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THE 



GREAT CONVENTION. 



DESCRIPTION 



OF THE 



CONVENTION OF THE PEOPLE OP OHIO, 

HISLB AT COIiUlVZBUS, 

On the 21st and 22d February, 1840. 



BY JOHN G. MILLER, EDITOR OF THE OHIO CONFEDERATE. 



EMBRACING THE SPEECHES OF THE HON. J. C. WRIGHT, CHARLES ANTHONY, ESQ., 

AND OTHERS. 



COLUMBUS. 

PUBLISHED BY CUTLER & WRIGHT, 



TO THE PUBLIC. 

Many individuals, for whose opinions and characters the writer had the highest 
respect, urged him to publish, in a form suitable for distribution, that account of the 
Great Convention which appeared in the Ohio Confederate. He was not so persuaded 
of the probable utility of the publication as to feel authorized to adopt the measure, 
until the following resolution of "The Harrison and Reform State Central Committee" 
was communicated to him: • 

"Columbus, March 30, 1840. 
*' Resolved, That John G. Miller, Esa- Editor of the Ohio Confederate, be requested 
to publish, in pamphlet form, the account of the meeting of the people in Convention at 
the city of Columbus, Ohio, on the 21st and 22d of February last; and that the County 
Central Committees and Harrison Reform Clubs be requested to aid in giving said pam- 
phlet an extensive circulation. 

"LYNE STARLING, Jr., Sec'y." 

After this proceeding of the State Central Committee, the writer no longer hesitated as 
to the course of duty, thus indicated by the wishes of the Committee, and the numerous 
solicitations of others. He entered into arrangements with Messrs. Cutler & Wright for 
printing the account of the Convention in the desired form. 

The writer has no apologies to offer to the public, no private objects to gain. The 
contents of this pamphlet were already before the world in the columns of his journal. 
They were prepared for that with the haste which usually attends the labors of a Political 
Editor. Had his occupation allowed him time for a careful review of them, they might 
have been improved in manner — in other and more important respects they must have 
remained unaltered. If the descriptive part of this publication shall serve to gratify the 
popular curiosity, the interesting speeches which it embraces to enlighten and confirm the 
popular sentiment, and the whole to impart a just conception of the memorable Conven- 
tion of the 22d of February, 1840, its end 'vill have been attained. 

JOHN G. MILLER. 



THE HARRISON CONVENTION. 

The proceedings of the Convention, on the important objects which formed 
the reasons of its convocation, will be read in another part of this sheet. To lay 
these before the reader has been an easy task and a pleasant. But how shall we 
describe the Convention itself? How portray the features of its moral counte- 
nance — the lineaments which imparted to him who looked upon the scene and 
its incidents, the tone, the temper and character of the whole? How transfer to 
paper the spirit, the pathos, the sentiment that moved upon the hearts of the mul- 
titude of patriot men assembled here on Saturday? It is a hopeless effort. 
Equally powerless is language to convey to the mind the full and perfect effect 
and bearing of the occasion and its developments, as is the pencil to delineate to 
the eye the spectacle of Niagara in its sublimity and grandeur. The reader will 
not discredit what we may say, nor yet will our narrative communicate to his 
mind the faith and the impression which resulted to one who "saw with his eye, 
and heard with his ear, and understood with his heart" the events of this impos- 
ing and unprecedented demonstration. One reads the speech of an eloquent 
orator — he embraces the thoughts — he comprehends the written words — and con- 
siderately speculates on their significance; but, how short does he come of the 
impression which was made on him who looked into the eye and listened to the 
voice — and imbibed the spirit of the speaker as he stood before him! — So, we 
can report to our readers the isolated or connected facts of this Convention — we 
can give them the outlines of a picture which they will examine and apprehend 
as far as it goes — but to fill it up — to present it in its moral proportions and give 
it its moral influence — is work for a limner of far higher powers than we. The 
mere external form, indeed, and physical constitution of this great congregation 
of freemen may be described; but the soul that stirred within it, and the energies 
that animated and moved it, will never be known and acknowledged save by him 
who was of it — who mingled in its action and partook of its living effusions of 
patriotism. These, in their varied expositions, as they came from the thoughtful 
countenance — the expressive eye — the impassioned speech — told of convictions, 
and fears, and hopes, and resolves, which the pen is impotent to depict, and 
which they alone can adequately reveal. 

We wish we could exhibit this vast assemblage to the eye of the distant reader, 
as we saw it, and especially, that we could enable him to appreciate it, in respect 
of its purposes, its aims and its determinations, as we appreciated it. He would, 
if like ourself he has felt alarmed for the interests and the welfare of his country, 
experience the satisfaction which we have felt. He would know that the people, 
the real people, are awake: and would, therefore, be encouraged in his hopes for 
their freedom and prosperity. He would see the indications of a spirit and a 
feeling pervading the universal mind, of a species and temper differing from aught 
that he has seen before since the Revolutionary Era. He would be convinced 
that, notwithstanding corruption in high places and oflficial impurity in every grade 
of place, the heart of the country is sound as the mind of the country is aroused. 
We have seen before instances of popular excitement and popular enthusiasm,' but 
we witness now, for the first time, the evidences of a solemn and profound sense, 



pervading all ranks and classes of our countrymen, of danger to public liberty. 
We have seen before the inflammation of passion operating upon the minds of 
men, and the stimulus of party political zeal urging them to decisive and uniterf 
action and effort, but never until now have we seen the multitude of our country- 
men under the influence of a settled conviction, that the fundamental institutions 
of our beloved country arejn peril, and calmly and sternly resolving that they 
SHALL BE SAVED. He who witnessed the advent of the great concourse of the 22d, 
and marked the manifestations of its progress and its termination, perceived that 
no trivial or temporary interests were adequate to the production of such a pop- 
ular movement. — It was not because "money is scarce," "exchanges are high," 
and "produce low" and "times are hard" — it was not because a dominant party, 
in possession of the civil power of the country, abuses the prerogatives of official 
station, and trifles with the patience of a confiding people — it was not because an 
appeal is made to the affections of their countrymen, in the person of two of the 
best and purest men which any age or land has furnished — men whom the mil- 
lions of their fellow-citizens not only respect, but love and revere as 



Fine true lioartcd fjentlenien, 
All ot'tiie olilcii lime" — 



it was not^because they were contrasting the merits of Harrison, the soldier and 
statesman, their brave protector in war and their faithful servant in peace — a man 
whose whole life is lull of the evidences of his virtue — whom the people honor 
for his services and love for his goodness — it was not because they were contrast- 
ing Harrison with Van Buren, a name which generates no emotion — whose 
history addresses itself to no generous sympathy — whose character commands no 
feeling of veneration and tenders no quality to attract the kindness of our common 
nature. No, it was not all these considerations that summoned together twenty 
THOUSAND freemen, from far and near, through all Ohio, to enquire and deliberate 
and resolve for their common country. These were the occasion, not the cause — 
these made the people to feel — the eff'ects of misrule, when felt, produced exami- 
nation — and the result of inquiry has been that deep and unequivocal belief (to 
which we have referred,) that the public liberty itself is in peril, and that to them 
and them alone belong the duty and the power to accomplish its deliverance. 

We wish not to be tedious in our endeavor to represent in its truth and its 
essence, this remarkable event; and if tlie reader shall have caught any portion of 
the flame which burned in the hearts of the thousands of whom we write, we shall 
not be so. Will he, to this end, go back with us, but for a moment, to the scene 
of Harrisburg, enacted but ten weeks agnne? Will he tliink of the men who com- 
posed that liberal and patriotic assemblage? 'J'heir age, their experience, their 
character for probity and worth and wisdom? Will he remember that they came 
from twenty-three Stales of this wide confederacy, and represented all the various 
interests and feelings and opinions embraced in its extended boundaries? Will 
he then recur to their solemn act of unanimous nomination, and ask himself why 
was this done? If so, he will find the solution of the mystery in the prevalence 
of the consciousness that the country needed, not to be governed, but to be saved. 
It was, therefore, that such unanimity was seen among honest men, of every par- 
tial shade. It was therefore, that the uncorrupl and incorruptible HARRISON 
AND TYLER were chosen as the fitting instruments of reformation. It was no 
time for splitting hairs in selecting public officers. The country was oppressed 
and wasted by incompetent and unfaithful men in power. Those who concurred 
in the desire to reinstate the government could not dispute about secondary ques- 
tions. If they would save the country, they must rid it of the misrule of a domi- 
nant faction. " To do that, they had but to unite the elements of opposition to 
corruption and despotism. They laid their peculiar interests and peculiar views 
upon the altar of the common good. They brought'every thing to the shrine of 



patriotism — they carried nothing back. — They nontiinated Harrison and Tyler — 
and by that single act, they waked up their sleeping countrymen and saved a 
sinking Stale. The Republic is safe. The spirit of that Convention of Harris- 
burg has diffused itself over the land, and under its influences, in spile of diffi- 
culties which no common indncements have been heretofore sufficient to over- 
come, have TWENTY THOUSAND of the Yeomanry cf Oliio congregated, 
from its remotest parts, at its common centre, and, under a sense of obligation 
and with a fortitude of purpose which 

" Makes assurance doubly sure, 
" And takes a bond of fate,'" 

determined that a reckless and selfish party in power shall no longer jeopardize 
the institntions of the country, or sport with the interests and llie liappiness of 
seventeen millions of people. 

We proceed to our narrative, and begin with the 

"GATHERING OF THE CLANS." 

For several days previous to Thursday, the 20th, delegates from all parts of 
the State had reached the City — so that on the morning of that day the Hotels 
were already filled to overflowing; and throughout the day ihey continued to 
arrive in rapid succession, though without organization and parade. — The wea- 
ther was uncomforlable — the day was rainy — the roads were known to be in bad 
condition — some, who had failed to discern the true state of the popular mind, 
began to fear least the people should not come — this apprehension was of short 
duration — rain and storm and obstacles had nothing to do in this mailer — and, hour 
after hour the tide rolled in and the multitude accumulated. The evening brought 
with it the accession of many thousands to the throng which now filled ihe streets 
of the City as the selling sun shone out upon the animating scene in his brighest 
and cheerlulest rays. At this period, the united Delegations from many of the 
Eastern Counties, approached the city. We did not witness this arrival — we 
quote the brief and eloquent description of one who did. Our friend, of the 
Journal, says of it: 

" On Thursday evening we took our stand on the angle of the National Koad, just where 
it breaks from Columbus to the east. Far as the eye could stretch into the dibtance, we 
saw the dense and uninterrupted stream of the vleax. DKjiocnACT pouring- onwards. On 
flowed the stream of human behig-s — countless and descriptionlcss. Our tablets w ti'e 
read3% our pencil was newl}' pointed — but, the task of description was beyond the power 
of mere mortaliiy. Banners, and flags, and escutcheons, and n-.otios, and all the grand 
gala of patriotism swept by us like the magic transitions of a drama. Onward poured ll;e 
stream — and we said, in our heart, this may be felt — but to huscriei; it i-tquires the com- 
preliension and ubiquity of something greater than human intellect. — Tlie mass moved on, 
and oiu- tablets were rejected. One magnificent band of music, (from Newark, we 
believe,) just as it wheeled into High street, struck up the Marseilles IJymn. That was 
enough — no man, who has music in his soul, can bend liis mind to dull description while 
that air is falling on his ear." 

On tlie same evening there arrived twenty-seven Canal Boats, bearing the 
Delegations from the Southern counties. These boats were crowded with the 
brave and generous spirits of "Old Ross," Pike, Sctoto, Jackson and adjacent 
counties, in number, it is said, exceeding two thousand. 

The morning of Friday opened upon the multitude, with a clear s^ky and a 
delightful temperature. Had a stranger entered the city on that beiuiiiful morn- 
ing, his eye would have fallen on a variegated scene of surpassing interest, wliich 
his tongue or his pen might have striven in vain to describe. Among the numer- 
ous ensigns, colors, decorations and banners, with th,eir pithy sentences and heart 
stirring mottos as they waved from the windows of the houses and floated on the 
standard? borne by individuals of the living mass before him, his eye would have 
rested for a naoraent, on two extended banners stretching from roof to roof of the 



6 

lofty tenements on either side of the street — bearing the impressive words of truth, 
"Convention of the people, not of Office holders!" "Harrison and 
Tyler — the pillars of reform." "Union of the Whigs for the sake of 
THE Union." — Wherein, as Gen. Murphy happily expressed it, when standing 
under one of these lofty streamers, and addressing in tones of impassioned elo- 
quence the vast assembly around him, "the people had tied their very houses 
together, as a symbol of the union of heart and of effort which should redeem 
their country from destruction." Various and pointed were the devices, the 
emblems and the mottos which would have met his eye whithersoever he directed 
it, as he traversed the wide and densely populated street. And all this, be it 
remembered, was the spontaneous ebullition of popular sentiment wrought up to 
a consciousness of the necessities of the crisis. There was no arrangement, no 
previous and concerted schemes of display — each section came with its own vol- 
untary and unsought tribute of mind and feeling; and individuals moved by the 
universal spirit of the time, executed their own designs and developed their own 
emotions without restraint and without reproof. In truth, there was no dissonance 
of feeling — no jarring of opinion — the deep pulsation of the universal heart was one, 
as the cause which moved and animated it was one. Did the voice of Music 
from the numerous Bands, which contributed so much to enliven the intervals of 
preparation and refreshment, fall pleasantly upon the ear? It came alike to all. 
Did some patriot orator, repressing no longer the common inspirations of the 
hour, pour forth the fears and hopes of the citizen as he thought of the circum- 
stances which weighed down the prosperity of his country, and threatened the 
downfall of its institutions — or recount to a tiiousand listening ears the thrilling 
story of Harrison, the Warrior, the interesting description of Harrison, the 
Statesman, and the winning tale of Harrison, tlie Farmer, the tried patriot, the 
virtuous man? His eloquence reached alike the minds and the hearts of all who 
heard him — for it told of that which was known to all as right and just and true. 

We wish that every one who reads this, had stood with the writer on the morn- 
ing of Friday, the 21st, and looked upon the scene which greeted the eye at the 
junction of High and Broad streets. The Delegations of the Western counties 
had passed the preceding night a few miles from the city, at the neighboring vil- 
lages on the National Road; tiiose from the Northern, had concentrated them- 
selves at Worthington, a village eight miles north, on the Sandusky Turnpike; 
those from the Reserve, on the Cleveland Road. When it was known that these 
three companies approached the city, the thousands already arrived, congregated 
at the point mentioned, to receive and welcome them. They came. They met 
a joyous greeting, and joyously, indeed, they answered it. It was in all its parts 
and in its aggregate, a spectacle we would fain present to the reader, but how 
shall we impart to him the expression of the scene? We can tell him of the 
shout after shout, the long and loud acclamations which proclaimed that the peo- 
ple, in their own power, were there. But how can we enable him to recognize 
the inward spirit and the mental life which gave the occasion its interest and its 
might? 

Tl'.e procession from the West extended more than a mile. It came from the 
beautiful Miami, wliere fertile and cultivated fields — thriving and polished towns, 
betoken inhabitants who know their rights, and whose luxuriant orchards testify 
to more "Hard Cider" than Madeira Wine — it came from the region of the "Mad 
River Trappers," where forests still stand in their original wildness, and the 
humble "Log Cabin" has not given place to the stately palace — where men in 
their humble dwellings have hard hands and strong arms and stout hearts to 
defend their rights — and who know how much valor and worth the slab roof oi 
a "Cabin" can shelter. They came from the plains of Champaign, and from the 
Jakes of Logan, and the hills of Clark, and the prairies of Madison — where honest 



Republicans dwell and ihe friends of liberty are cherished. They brought with 
them their flags and banners inscribed with the honored names of Harrison and 
Tyler, and the brief sententious words which spoke their stern resolves. They 
brought their "Log Cabins" and their long "canoes" as signs and symbols that 
the "Hard Cider" soldier who had fought their battles was the "Log Cabin" states- 
man who should restore their government. Thus they came. And from the 
North— from the very shores of the great Lakes — from the scenes of Harrison's 
trials and sufferings and conquests and glory, came an earnest and a resolute 
thousand to join the deliberations and to unite in the determinations of their 
anxious countrymen. They brought with them the miniature resemblance of 
"Fort Meigs," to revive the recollections of the day which tried a patriot's nerve 
and proved a patriot's "heart of oak." From the Northeast — where the sons of 
the pilgrim fathers have made the desert rejoice — where they have removed the 
wilderness and planted churches, and established cities, they came — and with 
them a beautiful ship told of their dwelling place on the borders of the water, and 
reminded us of their crippled commerce, and invited the memory back to that 
memorable 12th of September, when on the same Lake the gallant Perry "met 
the enemy, and they''' were his. Thus they came. It was a proud sight — this 
simultaneous arrival — to him who could coolly look upon it, and discern the 
sources, the motives and the consequences of this great popular movement. As 
one after another, flags and streamers, and various devices which spoke to the 
feelings and drew forth the applauses of the multitude, passed the assembled 
crowd, shout answered shout, and the welkin rung with the loud and long 
acclaim. Fearfully would those acclamations have fallen on the ear of him who 
first reproached the character of Harrison, as of one who drank "hard cider and 
lived in a Log cabin." They would have told him he had touched a cord which 
vibrates from the rivers to the ends of the land. 



We endeavored in our last to possess our readers of some conception — faint 
and inadequate, we know — of the ingathering of the people on the 20th and the 
morning of the 21st. It was a scene which might well employ the gifted pen 
which has recorded the pageant of Kenilworth — we did not hope to do it justice. 
The reader is now aware, however, that at 10 o'clock of that bright morning the 
cheerful sun looked down in smiles upon a vast congregation of earnest, anxious 
and determined men. A novice in the midst of that great crowd would have 
learned that freemen made it — and that in it was revived and cherished the spirit 
of '76. Breathing its atmosphere, he would have caught its enthusiasm and 
rejoiced in the glad assurance that his country and its liberties were safe. Ming- 
ling with the multitude, he would have marked a pervading solemnity of expres- 
sion and demeanor which .revealed a consciousness of grave interests to be cared 
for and great objects to be accomplished. He would have noticed the salutations 
of old friends long separated by time and distance — the renewal of acquaintances 
of days by-gone — he would have heard and seen the greetings and congratulations 
of individuals and of companies — here and there and every where he would have 
heard the names of Harrison and Tyler — old men, grey-headed and venerable, 
spoke of "Tippecanoe" — "the Indian tomahawk" — "our women and children"-- 
"the brave old General" — "Fort Meigs and the Thames" — "the British and the 
Savages" — "the brave and good Harrison" — "always victorious, always true." 
The young men, embracing the spirit of their fathers and drinking in the genius 
of the hour — in louder but no firmer notes — and with the fervor of young, free 
hearts — lifted up their voices to shout huzzas of patriotic ardor — to swear allegi- 
ance to freedom and their country, and to affirm the doom of its oppressors. And 
in all this, the observer would have marked the deep, the stern, the earnest emo- 
tion of men who had discovered danger and fortified themselves to meet it. He 



would have seen in all the iniiications of that vast assembly, that thoughts were 
breathing in its twice ten thousand hearts, warmly but not fiercely; and words 
tvere burning from its twice ten thousand lips, firmly but not bitterly, which gave 
him surest presagres of safety to his country and security to public liberty. It 
was thus, in the intercommunication of mind and mind, and iieart and heart, and 
hand and hand, tliat two fleeting hours of that sunny forenoon hastily flew by, 
before the organization of the Convention. But that brief time disclosed to every 
mind the unity of purpose, the concord of feeling, the identity of sentiment, of 
wishes and resolves which concentrated the aspirations and were about equally to 
concentrate the energies and efforts of so many thousand freemen upon a single 

object — THE RESTORATION OF THEIR GOVERNMENT. 

In the crowded cities or in the populous districts of older countries, the assem- 
bling together of many thousands of persons is neither uncommon nor wonderful. 
In this country, however, with its sparse and busy population, the voluntary con- 
gregation of a throng like that of which we write, consisting for the most part, of 
the hardy and industrious yeomanry of the State — coming, the farmer from his 
plough, the mechanic from his work-shop — and all from various and remote geo- 
graphical points — is, indeed, both strange and remarkable. It is not a thing of 
course — it has rarely, if ever, occurred before, and may not soon happen again. 
It is the effect of powerful operative cause. That cause we have endeavored to 
designate — and happy is the reflection, that there remain so mucli of public 
virtue and love of liberty willi the descendants of a Revolutionary ancestry 
as to ensure the production of such results. But the very circumstances which 
contribute to make this event noticeable and memorable and attach to it an im- 
portance hardly to be estimated, recognize an adversary interest and an opposing 
party which seek to depreciate its mora! power by denying or misrepresenting its 
actual character and the facts connected with it. It is not, therefore, inappropri- 
ate to remark more particularly, at this stage of our narrative, upon the 
Number of the Convention. 

It is a very common observation that persons unused to large popular meetings 
are apt to overate them in estimating their number. The observation is probably 
just. The writer of this, therefore, desirous of informing his readers correctly 
in relation to this interesting occasion, has not trusted at all to his own fallible 
judgment in ascertaining by conjecture merely the number of citizens who formed 
the Harrison and Tyler Convention of Ohio. He has, on the contrary, sought 
to certify himself on tliis subject, not by the opinions merely of experienced and 
judicious persons, but by the results of calculations founded upon reasonable and 
practicable data. To enumerate with certainty and accuracy such an assemblage, 
under such circumstances, is obviously impracticable; but to approximate the 
actual number is neither difficult nor improbable. When we have supposed the 
Convention, therefore, to be composed of twenty thousand citizens, we have 
spoken not by conjecture merely, nor have we only repeated the opinions of 
others, but under the authority of estimates deliberately and carefully made by 
those whose opportunities and competency entitle their calculations to our utmost 
confidence. These have varied — some putting the number at twenty-two, and 
some at twenty-five thousand — but a single individual, within our knowledge, 
who adopted any reasonable mode of calculation, has estimated it as low as 
twenty thousand. 

Our friend and neighbor, the Bulletin of this city, published its opinion on 
Saturday, and acknowledged its belief that the "Whigs had effected a great turn- 
out'''' — "probably, four or five thousand." Our neighbor did not intend to under- 
rate the numbers of democracy — he respects too much the ^'•democracy of num- 
bers," to do that — besides, he is above intentional misrepresentation. But, when 
our friend perceived that the Whigs "had effected a great turn-out,''^ it could 



9 

hardly fail to occur to his mind, that this was but the prelude to another and a 
greater turn-out, which we trust he will live to witness after the 4th of March 
in '41 — when Harrison and Tyler, having been turned in by the people, the 
Whigs, through them, will "effect" "a turn-out" far greater, in respect to num- 
bers, than on the present occasion, in the estimation of the Bulletin. This vision 
of the future probably impaired, in our neighbor, the vision of the present. Had 
he seen all the people, he is too good a judge of the "democracy of numbers" 
to have mistaken so much the numbers of the democracy. 

Another friend of ours (who is yet more and emphatically the friend of the 
Bulletin — though more strongly imbued than he with the Loco foco virus) — hav- 
ing very coolly surveyed the "miles of processions" and the "acres of people," 
pronounced the deliberate judgment that the Convention of the 22d was nearly, 
if not quite, as large as that of "the glorious 8lh"! He said, we are informed, 
nothing about the ''■turn-ouC — but that the idea tilled his mind and untitled it for 
any operation depending on arithmetical process, will not be doubted. 

That these, our neighbors, and all who co-operate with them, should be reluc- 
tant to think that live and twenty thousand citizens, no inconsiderable portion of 
them, men who but recently swelled the catalogue of the Van Buren parly in 
Ohio, had come up to their central city, to take counsel together for the reforma- 
tion of their government, is not surprising. To such it has an awful squinting — 
it squints at that greater "turn out" which is evidently at hand — than wliich 
nothing to them could appear more terrific. But the people have come and 
gone — and now, if ever, our neighbors can composedly look the danger in the 
face. If they desire to compare the Conventions of the 8th and 22d, we will aid 
them, succinctly, in the compulation of the latter, thus helping them to whatever 
consolation the contrast may afibrd. We invite them to set down the delegation 
from Licking — the only one, we learn, which was accurately enumerated — and 
which was a little short of 600 — add to this, that of the 7th Congressional Dis- 
trict, a part only of which was borne hither by 27 canal boats — and that countless 
multitude of "Mad River Trappers," and "hard-cider" pioneers, and "log-cabin" 
democrats, whose advent cheered and strengthened so many patriotic bosoms on 
that memorable morning of the 21st — and the northern bands that poured in at 
the same hour their multitudinous contributions — and, to say nothing of the pat- 
riotic hundreds from populous "Old Muskingum" — nothing of the representatives 
from our "Queen" of cities — nothing of the thousands upon thousands who has- 
tened up from all the counties of the State — they Avill soon grow weary of the 
comparison. One will be apt to conclude that when he fixed the ''turn out" at 
the estimated number, he had seen but a little segment of the whole, and the other 
that, when he supposed it to be equal to the Convention of "the glorious 8th," 
he saw but the deputation which Licking had sent up. 

It was, indeed, an imposing sight! That of 

THE CONVENTION, 

itself, in its full and perfect form and organization. Rich was the spectacle in the 
production of elevated thought, fruitful was it of noblest associations! Who that 
saw it did not go back to buried ages and connect the scene before him with pic-, 
tures which imagination has often drawn, but which reality has not often, in this 
our day, exemplified? Who did not now remember, what has seemed to us as 
the tale of romance rather than the sober records of history — think of the era of 
Grecian Democracy, and inquire, can these twenty thousand freemen think in 
unison, and feel and act in concord and harmony? — There is no restraint of opin- 
ion, there is no inhibition of speech — in thought and word they are free "as the 
air they breathe." Can all these minds coalesce in sentiment— and all these hands 
co-operate in the production of one result, the attainment of one end? Will not. 
2 



10 

passion and prejudice, and peculiar interests and selfish motives, and personal 
ambition and emulation — will not all or some of these interfere to divide them in 
deliberation, and distract and weaken them in exertion? No! He who had 
watched the development of public sentiment would have replied with confidence, 
No! These Republicans, personally strangers to each other, have a common 
country which they love, and common interests which they will protect. They 
have suffered equally and all, under the dominion of a political party which is 
serving itself at the expense of the country, and they will suffer under it no 
longer. It is, therefore, that in that great assemblage, will be found but one aim, 
one purpose, one firm resolve — to rescue their government from the hands of the 
spoiler and save the priceless inheritance which the blood of their fathers won. 

At the Northwestern angle of the Public Square, where High and Broad streets 
unite, a capacious platform had been erected for the use of the officers of tlie Con- 
vention. It was here that this meeting of the people — without example both 
for its number and its unanimity — was held. Let not the spot be forgotten. In 
after years, when we who are now actors on the stage of life shall have finished 
our parts, and yielded our places to those who are to follow us — when we shall be 
gathered to our fathers, leaving to our children the heritage of civil liberty which 
we are striving now to preserve for them — even then, the youthful votary of 
freedom will be curious to know the place where the Great Convention met. 
The Harrison and Tyler Convention of 1840 will be for a memorial of our 
times; the epoch from whence will be dated the revival of that pure spirit of polit- 
ical liberty and political integrity in which the American Institutions were found- 
ed, and from which, in the lapse of two generations they have fearfully degen- 
erated. 

It is not a part of our design, to repeat what the reader has already obtained 
from the official report of the proceedings of the Convention. These are before 
him — and they inform him what was done. Ours is the more difficult, but 
scarcely less interesting task to disclose to him what was felt. The reader has 
been told that the Convention was organized — he has read its declarations of 
opinion and its resolutions of action. It may be, he understands and approves 
them. But how much more confidence would he feel in their rectitude and efficacy, 
had he witnessed one of the sublimest of all exhibitions, when twenty thousand 
honest minds gave them their free and united assent; and twenty thousand 
voices proclaimed it? He has learned that Reazin Beall was appointed to pre- 
side over the deliberations of this extraordinary body — held in the open air, 
because no house would contain a tithe of its numbers — in the public streets of 
the City; and, he has probably enquired whether order and method and decorum 
could prevail in such an assembly. How would he have been impressed, had he 
been present to note the silence of the vast concourse, and the universal pro- 
priety and good order by which it was distinguished! Again would he have seen 
the proofs that the men who stood before him were there on no idle errand. And 
had he seen the venerable President, his head whitened by the frosts of more 
than seventy winters, standing up before his assembled countrymen, telling tliem 
of the dangers which beset their common country, and exhorting them to the 
application of seasonable defences — had he heard him, in the dignity of age and 
worth, and in the warmth of an honest mind, recount the perils he had shared 
with Harrison in the hard service of two wars, and bear witness to Harrison's 
valor and worth, as a soldier and a statesman — had the reader seen and heard all 
this, and listened to the responsive acclamations of the people, he would have 
known and felt that they, at least, were sensible of weighty responsibilities con- 
nected with their assemblage. 

We heard what Gen. Beall said on that occasion. We wish vve could report 
his words — and especiallly, that we could so report them as to give to them the 



11 

power which they exercised when spoken. But, though this cannot be done, the 
reader will be gratitied to receive, in this imperfect form, the substance of the 
excellent 

ADDRESS OF THE PRESIDENT. 

Fellow Citizens: The distinguished honor which you have done me was 
altogether unexpected — had it been otherwise, I might have been better prepared 
to address to you on this occasion what it might be my duty to express, and your 
pleasure to hear. 

It seems to me, my countrymen, that at no time since the Declaration of our 
Independence, has the situation of the American people, as a nation, required 
more vigilance and nerve on the part of the people themselves to resist the en- 
croachments of Executive power on our rights, than is demanded bv the present 
crisis. That this is the universal opinion of the people (always excepting the 
dependents and waiters on Executive favor,) I want no better evidence than to 
behold before and around me the unparalleled multitude of citizens who, at this 
inclement season of the year, have come from reinotest and all parts of the 
State, to consult and resolve on measures to alleviate the general distress; and to 
dispel the clouds which darken the prospect before us — a prospect, gloomy in- 
deed, and brought on us by the arbitrary and selfish, not to say corrupt, conduct 
of those wlio have possession of the power of the government. As a sure means 
of effecting this object, in obedience to our laws and constitutions, the eyes of 
the whole nation are turned to the Patriot and Farmer of North Bend — to 
our own Harrison, who, from his important services to the country on many 
trying occasions, and the energy and fidelity he has displayed on many great 
emergencies, appears to have been reserved by Providence for the use of his 
country, and destined to be again the instrument of its safety. 

Fellow Citizens, 1 know General Harrison, I have known him long and well. 
As early as 1792 we served together in the army of Wayne. You have heard of 
that army, and of its Leader. You have heard where they fought and how they 
fought. I was thus associated with Gen. Harrison, untiri704. He was then a 
youth of 19 years — I was four years older, being 23. During all that time he 
was universally esteemed as an accomplished young gentleman, a vigilant, humane 
and brave young officer. Of his humanity, I could give you many evidences, if 
time allowed. Let it suffice to say that no sick or wounded soldier missed of his 
care and kindness. He had some knowledge of medicine, and was thus the 
better qualified to know the wants and help the necessities of the suffering sol- 
dier — and none were too poor and humble to claim his attentions. Often and 
often have I known him furnishing from his own supplies, sugar and coffee and 
tea to the sick and disabled soldier who could get such comforts from no other 
source. It was this that made the soldiers love him — and his talents and courage 
made all respect him. 

As to Gen. Harrison's bravery and his qualifications as an officer — it is enough 
to remember that it was Wayne who selected him as his Aid-de-Cump, and took 
him to his military family and confidence. If you know any thing of Wayne, 
you need not to be reminded that he knew how to tell a brave man, and was not 
used to give his countenance and confidence to a slouch and a coward. In this 
capacity of Aid to the Commander in Chief, young Harrison continued until Gen. 
Wayne's death — in this capacity he acted at the memorable battle at the foot of 
the Rapids of the Miami of the Lake — where, by his courage and good conduct, 
bearing with admirable promptitude and fearlessness the orders of the Com- 
mander from point to point, and party to party, during the hottest and fiercest of 
the fight, l^e contributed greatly to that distinguished victory, and entitled himself 
to the particular approbation of his Commander, expressed in his General Orders 
and in his reports to the Government. You all know the brilliancy of that 



12 

achievement — and every survivor who bore a part in it knows that, the name of 
Harrison can in no way be separated from it. 

From 1794 to 1812, my personal intercourse with General Harrison was lim- 
ited. — But, altho' our public engagements did not bring us into direct association, 
I ceased not to feel interested in the man and watched the steps of his progress.' 
After the disastrous campaign of Hull, on our Northern frontier, in 1812, when 
public confidence was deceived and consternation and dread filled the popular 
mind, all eyes were turned to the Hero of Tippecanoe, whose fame was now 
co-extensive with the country. He was called by Mr. Madison (then President,) 
to the command of the Northwestern forces. I was summoned with my brigade 
of militia to the same field, and again on the frontier I met him. I found that 
twenty years had made no change in the 772an — he was the same brave officer and 
generous friend and faithful servant of the country that I knew in his youth, in 
the wilderness with Wayne. 1 need not occupy your time in talking of the mil- 
itary conduct of Gen. Harrison during the late war with Great Britain — recounting 
his exploits or extolling his victories. You all know them — the world knows 
them. Having done his duty — his whole duty — and fulfilled the expectations of 
his country — having conquered his enemies and obviated the necessity of his 
further services, he went back to his farm. And so, fellow citizens, he will do 
again. When, in obedience to your command and the voice of the nation, he 
shall have rectified the government, purged it of its corruptions and effected in 
regard to it, the unll of the people, he will again go hack to his farm. He will 
be, what every officer in this government is, (or ought to be,) the agent of the 
people to execute their wishes; — and when he has done that, office and the dis- 
tinctions and honors of office have no longer any inducements for him. 

Fellow Citizens, as I said in the commencement of these crude and unpremedi- 
tated observations, the call to preside over this great assembly was to me totally 
unexpected. Hoping, therefore, that you will look with indulgence upon the 
imperfect manner of my remarks — and tendering you my most respectful 
acknowledgments for the high honor you ha?e thought proper to bestow upon me; 
and although I could dwell for hours upon facts and incidents which would show 
the fitness and qualifications of Gen. Harrison to overcome the difficulties which 
we all alike feel — I forbear to detain you longer from the consideration of the 
momentous subjects which have brought you together. 

We need not say to the reader, that the venerable President was not permitted 
to deliver these remarks, without frequent interruptions from the irrepressible 
applauses of the people; as ihey saw before them, an aged and honored citizen, 
the companion in arms and close associate of Harrison, confirming with his own 
lips the faithful evidence of history and the testimony of all tradition, that a braver 
soldier and a purer patriot has not lived in the tide of time — and remembered the 
infamous calumnies and dastardly defamations which wicked and ruthless minds 
have invented, and foul and atrocious tongues have propagated, to rob a soldier of 
his glory and an honest man of his fame — and all for the sordid motive of holding 
to the power the}^ have clutched and of cramming their pockets with the money 
of the people — as the vast audience heard thus and remembered thus, as easily 
might the "Father of Rivers" be stayed in his current by a straw, as they subdue 
the sensations of their hearts. — Again and again, as the old man told his story 
(more minutely than we have been able to repeat it,) did the voices of the multi- 
tude like the sound of the rushing of many ivaters, fill the air with the expres- 
sions of their indignation and, anon, of their applause. 

The writer of this stood in the midst of that immense crowd, at the moment 
of which he writes, — when Gen. Beall took his seat. He marked the indications 
of intense emotion agitating the breasts of the thousands about him. It was not 
the fierce and cruel spirit of enmity — it was not the severe and malevolent feeling 



13 

of malice, hatred and revenge, which we saw depicted in the faces and the man- 
ners of the multitude. It was the sense of shame for public debasement — of 
sorrow for the wounded character of their country and the degradation of liberal 
government — that the fiiends of truth and of such a man as Harrison, were 
required to protect his reputation from aspersions, such as his traducers have 
attempted — and the firm and fixed purpose that the country and its government 
should be redeemed — their principles and institutions recovered from disgrace — 
and good and faithful men delivered from the attacks of tlieir enemies. They 
were sentiments like these which evidently occupied the mind of the people, and 
disclosed themselves in every conceivable shape and mode. It was at this junc- 
ture that a thoughtful old genllemen — with yet a spice of the wag peeping from 
the corner of his intellectual eye — exclaimed "My God! I wish Van Buren could 
see this sight! Oh, how I wish he could see it! He would save us so much 
trouble." 

The reader who has perused the official narrative of the proceedings of the 
Convention, is apprized of what now was done with reference to the business of 
the body — if there be any who is not, we refer him, for particulars, to our last 
paper, in which the official account is published. We need only say in this 
place, that, the Convention having appointed its various officers and provided for 
the requisite Committees and assigned to them duties, might now have adjourned • 
until the morning — for many of them had encountered laborious journeys, con- 
tending with bad roads and bad weather, and needed refreshment and repose. 
But it was not so. They were stimulated by considerations which protected 
ihem from common sources of annoyance, and they tired not in the pursuit of the 
high objects which they had left their familes and firesides to accomplish. They 
desired the fullest and the freest conferences with one another — that each might 
be confirmed in his resolutions, if right, or by the better information of his bre- 
thren corrected in them if wrong. 

The Hon. Thomas Ewing, (the late Senator to Congress,) and Gen. Wm. S. 
Murphy (a delegate to the late Harrisburg Convention,) were pressingly invited 
to address the Convention. They cheerfully yielded to the general wish, and 
successively enchained the attention of the vast and interested audience, until the 
approach of evening admonished the Convention of adjournment until the morrow. 
The writer did not hear the speeches of Messrs. Ewing and Murphy — but of 
them he did hear. And, if he righvly understands the estimation of them by those 
who listened to them, their eloquent and powerful expositions of "things as ihey 
are,'' will not by their hearers be forgotten. We believe these addresses ought 
to be permitted to go to all our fellow-citizens, and are not without a hope that 
the orators will enable us to confer that favor (for so, we are assured, it will be 
esteemed,) upon the country. 

The city was this evening brilliantly and beautifully illuminated. But the 
magnificent display met not the eye of the writer. His duties, in another situa- 
tion, deprived him of this gratification — but introduced him to a scene which, 
though it addressed not itself to the organs of sense, possessed a moral sublimity 
of far higher value — and which, in a future paper, he will endeavor to im.part to 
his readers. 

It is not by words only that thoughts are communicated to the mind and truth 
impressed upon the heart. The tongue and the pen, the pencil and the chisel 
perform the same office and are fittingly employed in the production of the same 
effects. So likewi&u do actions speak with an eloquence and power to affect the 
understanding and reach the feelings of men, when language, and writing, and 
painting have failed. With all people, in all ages, have these different agents 
been used, separately or combined, to express and enforce, to declare and illus- 
trate intellectual and moral suggestions. Hence it is, that the exhibition of a 



14 

«'Log-cabin," at this day, tells a story which a volume would scarcely disclose — 
giving courage and hope to a Harrisonian patriot and making a Van Buren office 
holder tremble as the leaf of -an Aspen. Hence it is that a miniature resemblance 
of "Fort Meigs" unfolds, through the medium of the natural eye, a history of 
virtue and valor and patriotism — calls up recollections of glorious endeavor and 
lofty daring — which bring to the heart of the Harrisonian patriot promises of pre- 
cious import to the waning honor and interests of his country, but convey to the 
mind of a Van Buren office-holder, of the patent democratic order, the expecta- 
tion of a fearful future. Hence it is tliat the popular demonstration which has 
given so much eclat to the Convention of the 22d, has so fortified the thinking 
republican in his confidence in the virtue and intelligence of his countrymen, and 
and left to the "captains and leaders" of a well meaning but deluded party, hardly 
a loop on which to hang a hope. 

The sun of the 21st, that seemed to look with joy upon the cheerful spectacle 
which the City that day presented, went down behind a clear horizon, and author- 
ised the anticipation of a bright and propitious morrow. But the temper of the 
people was to be subjected to a trial. It remained to be determined whether the 
ardor of that spirit wliich brought together so many thousand citizens was to be 
chilled or dejected by trivial causes and slight annoyances. Before the morning 
came, dense clouds had supervened, the rain came down in torrents, and the 
entire exhibition of the remarkable pageant, v.'hicli we are about to endeavor to 
describe to our readers, was executed under the disadvantage of its profuse and 
almost unintermitting fall. It had the efTect to diminish its numbers — the aged 
and infirm were of necessity excluded from an active participation in it — but 
clouds and rain could not prevent the fulfilment of the previous arrangements or 
check the zeal or restrain the ardency of sixteen thousand citizens who formed 
the memorable 

PROCESSION OF THE 22d. 

Those of our readers who have seen this beautiful city — the Capitol of Ohio — 
will understand the remark, that no place is better adapted to an exhibition like 
that of which we write. Located on an extensive plain, its surface broken by a 
few gentle undulations only — its streets universally wide and many of its buildings 
high and capacious — there is no city better suited to give the finest efTect to a 
magnificent display like that of the Birth-day procession. The morning slum- 
bers of the thousands who enjoyed that night the free and cordial hospitalities of 
the inhabitants of Columbus, were interrupted at early dawn by the martial music 
of the Bands which gave most pleasant "note of preparation" for the business of 
the day, and reminded those whose ear received the sound that it was the day of 
Washington — the pater patrix. It was 10 o'clock when the numerous detach- 
ments began to unite, and, group afer group, company after company, in rapid 
and regular succession, added themselves to those which had preceded them, and 
formed, at length, one long unbroken line which the eye was unable to em- 
brace, and an almost innumerable mass of men which the mind, without effort, 
was at fault to estimate. We will not attempt to present before the eye of the 
reader the complete scene as it was presented to that of the beholder — to this the 
powers of language are unequal. It shall be our object to place before him the 
separate parts which made it entire — his own imagination must combine them into 
one imposing and indescribable whole. 

Had he stood on one of our principal streets and watched the progress of the 
magnificent train in its perfect arrangement, he would have seen in its van, a dis- 
play of military excellence and splendor, not often exceeded in any thing save in 
numbers. This part of the procession was composed of a Battallion (three com- 
panies,) of volunteer Infantry, in full and beautiful uniform, from the populous 
and patriotic "Old Muskingum," under command of Lieut. Col. Curtis and Maj. 



15 

Dade, having in escort, Brig. Gen. Watkins and Staff, of Zanesville; a fine com- 
pany of German Infantry from the county of Ross, and the three companies of 
our own City, which yield to none in perfection of disciphne and elegance of 
appearance. It was a military grandeur worthy of the day — the anniversary-day 
of the Father of the Country — and wortliy of the civic train which it led. 

A Band of Musicians, in a car drawn by four horses, followed the military com- 
panies, and poured forth the rich and exhilerating strains of twenty instruments of 
music. 

The next object of attraction was a Canoe of elegant construction and finish — 
borne on wheels, as a carriage — laden with a precious cargo of "Soldiers of the 
Revolution" — men who poured out their blood like water to gain the freedom of 
their country, and are ready to strive in the decrepitude of years to preserve the 
liberties their youthful valor won. At the stern of the Canoe was to be seen a 
full length likeness of Gen. Harrison, handsomely though hastily executed by 
Mr. Wilson, a portrait painter of this city, of deserved reputation — supported by 
a Buckeye Tree, 40 feet in height, in perfect foliage and bloom. The whole 
drawn by 8 white horses under the hand of AVilliaui Neil, Esq., whose public 
spirit and liberality had contributed this interesting portion of the pageant. 

Then came a spectacle that spoke to the heart — that no American could look 
upon without feeling the warm blood course more freely through his veins, and 
his love of country wax purer and purer and higher and higher as it unfolded the 
story of "76. A venerable old man, bent under the weight of accumulated years, 
is mounted on a steed, white as the driven snow, leading another of equal white- 
ness, clothed in the equestrian habiliments of War, but without a rider. What 
does that mean? "That is an old soldier" — "a veteran of the revolution" — see 
you not by the light of his aged eye how the memories of the glorious past are 
crowding thick upon him and kindling up afresh in his inmost heart the fires of 
his youth and reviving the inspirations of the brightest day in the track of time? 
He is "Old Lewis Bowyer," the only survivor o{ "■Washingtori' s Life-Guard.^^ 
The horse which he leads wears the caparison of Washington's War-horse — the 
Saddle, Housing and Holsters used by Washington himself. The precious relics 
have been preserved with filial piety, by her, (a lady of Marietta, of the family of 
the illustrious Chief,) who, inheriting the patriotism as well as these impressive 
memorials of her ancestry, has sent them here to be seen of her countrymen and 
to bring up the recollections which are with them indissolubly associated. His- 
tory and tradition reveal to us the proud and generous spirit of our revolutionary 
mothers, and we have gratifying proofs that the refinements and luxury of later 
times have not extinguished it in their daughters. 

And there is the living Representative of the genius of our Country! The 
proud Bird — the emblem of Liberty — witli eye that never winks, and wing that 
never tires! Fitting companion of the solitary remnant of Washington's Life- 
Guard, and associate of those who are commemorating the day which gave him 
to his country and the world, by endeavoring the elevation of one who stands 
now as he stood in his time — "First in war, first in peace, and first in the hearts 
of his countrymen." That noble Eagle, mark the expression of his eye! Though 
fretted by the pinions which hold him — 

" For were even paradise his prison 

" Still he would long to scale the crystal walls — 

seems to comprehend the purpose of his confinement and to rejoice in the omens 
around him which point to the redemption and honor of his country. That bird 
it is said was captured by an adherent of President Van Ruren and sold to a 
Whig who has borne it hither from the wilds of Maumee — where the friends of 
liberty have struggled and bled and triumphed — where the Eagle delights to dwell 
and to revel in its wild, free life. It is destined to pass into the possession of one 
who, in other times, has known the places of its habitation and saved them from 



16 

the Indian foe and his more savage British ally — it is to be presented to Gen. 
Harrison, 

There is, indeed, an attractive object. That is "Fort Meigs." The imitation 
is perfect. How fraught is it with engrossing and impressive history! How 
much does it tell of the gallant man who at this moment occupies the thoughts 
and the hopes of his countrymen! It was no common zeal which stimulated the 
feelings of those who constructed that fabric — and well have they perfected the 
design. Those six line horses which draw the interesting burden have imbibed 
the very spirit of "Fort Meigs" — mark the dignity of their motion and the mili- 
tary precision of their steps. "'I'lie length of the fort is 28 feet — its embankments 
six inches high, surmounted by piquets of 10 inches." Its garrison is 40 men. 
The Block-houses, seven in number. "The whole structure is a beautiful as 
well as perfect representation of the spot where Harrison achieved a victory 
which has incorporated his name and those of the brave men whom he com- 
manded with the never dying glory of his country. Observe those guns — twelve 
cannon, "with appropriate mountings, — are properly disposed at the batteries," 
and that little "brass Spokesman, cast at the Toledo foundry" — is about to tell 
its "iron tale" in imitation of its "illustrious predecessors" which spoke to fearful 
and destructive purpose in May 1813. Look at those flag-stafTs, 20 feet in height. 
See floating from the foremost of them, that signal of virgin white, and read the 
inscription it displays. 

"FORT MEIGS." 

"BESIEGED MAY 1813." 

" Tell General Proctor when he g'ets possession of tlie Fort he will gain more honor in 
the estimation of his king' and country, than he would acquire by a thousand capitula- 
tions." 

And on the streamer of the other are the last words of the brave, expiring Law- 
rence — which have become the watchword of the friends of American freedom, 
who are not permitted to despair of the Republic — 

"DON'T GIVE UP THE SHIP." 

And yet another banner flies at the extremity of the Fort, which, addressing 
the "leaders" of a faction now urging the Confederacy to ruin, advises them of a 
truth which every successive day confirms, and in words of solemn iiDport which 
they refuse to hear and heed. 

"WEIGHED IN THE BALANCE AND FOUND WANTING." 

Mark that aged man! He is a " hero of two wars." He was at the attack of 
Quebec in '76 — he was chaplain to the army of Fort" Meigs, thirty^seven years 
afier — and now, at the age of 84 years, he is here to bear his testimony to the 
value of free institutions and the worth and virtue of his beloved commander. 
Such as he are Harrison's witnesses before the country, against the traductions 
of his self-interested revilers. — 

Now come the countless multitude of" Delegates to the Convention" — see the 
livino" mass as it moves on, forgetful of the fast falling showers above and the 
flooded streets beneath them ! Hear the reiterated shout, as it rolls "like the 
voice of many waters," from end to end of the lengthened column! Truly, 'tis a 
scene which, 

Take it for all in all, 

We shall not look upon its like again. 

But there is order in its arrangement — as there is harmony in its life and prin- 
ciple. They come in divisions, adjusted according to the Congressional Districts 
which they represent. Here is first the delegation of the District No. 1, con- 
ducted by their marshal, Col. Graham. They are from the Queen City and its 
lovely environs. They are the neighbors and friends of Harrison. They know 
him in private as we all know him in public relations. — The able and honest man 
— the pure and true-hearted friend. Look at that company of two hundred citi- 



zens. They are not of the "silk liose and ruffle shirted" classes which so dis- 
turb the Democratic nerves of our office-holding and office-loving brotherhood. 
Silk stockings would recoil from that mud, and ruffle shirts would not expose their 
starched rigidity to these impetuous torrents. No; they are the true specimens 
of that "bone and sinew," of which these same patent democrats mouth so elo- 
quently and feel so conlemptuousl5\ That canvass which precedes them bears 
on its face a happy device, and handsomely executed. Observe Proctor and his 
staff demanding the surrender of Fort Meigs. And there again you read the an- 
swer of the besieged commander — an answer which laughs to scorn ineflable the 
stupid slander which imputes to Harrison a quality short of the very soul of mar- 
tial bravery. There is in the collocation and the bearing of the words themselves 
a firm and cool significance which a brave man only could conceive or utter. 

"Tell General Proctor when he gains possession of this Fort it will be by means which 
will do him more honor, in the estimation of his king and country, than a thousand capitu- 
lations." 

And here comes the 2d Congressional District, conducted by its Marshal, G. 
D. Hendricks — and preceded by its " Log Cabin," — in token of the Republican 
simplicity of the people whom these represent — and the character of that good 
man around whom they are rallying as the appointed deliverer of their country. 

The 3d is near them — these are the warm-hearted men who brought with them 
the " Fort Meigs" which has just passed us. See how their banners fly and 
their shouts rend the airl There are no "silk stockings" in that patriotic com- 
pany — no " ruffle-shirlcd non-producers." Col. Van Home is their marshal. 

The 4th is at hand — T. B, Van Home conducts its movements — what read we 
Ml its colors as they are unfolded by the winds? " Harrison and Tyler." " The 
pneople's candidates." "Retrenchment and Reform." Thus they speak — and 
uch is the voice of the country. 

And here is the Delegation of the 5th Congressional District. Marshal T. H. 
Lynch is at its head. High wave their banners in the air, and in merry peals of 
congratulation do they lift up their voices. Hear how the sound of their rejoicing 
is answered by the shouts of the multitude! 

Again the animating tones of martial melody salute our ears. That splendid 
car with its Band of musicians, is from the town of Newark. It precedes the de- 
legation of the 6th District — Marshaled by Col. Hearing. What have we on the 
flags which they bear? " The Farmer of North Bend." " Washington, Jeffer- 
son, Harrison." 

"The 7th District nears us. Col. John Madeira marshals the men of " Old 
Ross," and Pike, Scioto and Jackson. Fifteen hundred citizens are there to 
speak for their neighbors on this great occasion. And what say they? Mark 
that painting — see you the likeness of the tiller of the earth — at the door of his 
humble cottage, his "log cabin," he stands with a mug of "hard cider" in his 
hand — who is he? On the other side you observe the military officer clad in 
warlike apparel — who is he? Can it be other than the " Farmer of Ohio," the 
" Hero of Tippecanoe?" They write their sentiments on their flags — and there 
we read — " The people are coming — the people have come." "Anti-Mat — Old 
fashioned Democrat." "One Presidential term, and the good of the people." 
But what are we to understand by that singular device before us? An old " Tin- 
pan" — the bottom lost or ivorn out — supported on a hickory pole and clothed in 
mourning weeds? Who shall interpret its significance? Verily there is pith in 
that conceit, and meaning, deep meaning in its odd expression. It foretells the 
speedy destruction of a spurious creation of party fanaticism, which defies the 
Constitution and tramples on the freedom of thought, and betokens that its ruin 
will be followed by " weeping and wailing and gnashing of teeth," 

But ihey have passed — the 8th is before us — again are our ears delighted by the 
rich music of that fine Columbus Band — Marshal S. G. Renick leads that numer- 
3 



18 

ous delesrr.tinn — Franklin, Pickaway, Madison, and Delaware are there. That 
long " Canoe" repeats the story of heroic deeds, and tesiities a People's gratitude 
and love. Those streamers reveal the purport of their thoughts, their wishes and 
resolves. " The Democrat of ihe Old School." "The Cincinnatus of the West." 
" The Man who is to save the country," "We try a Farmer for our President." 
Bnt what says Piirkawav, in that painting which she bears along? One stands 
erect, with firm yet benignant brow, and sets his foot upon a Ball as if to give il 
motion — while a tlinnniilive figure Hies as if in terror of being overtaken and 
crushed bv the moving ball. We read the exposition — " Harrison setting tht 
ball rollins;.^^ The design is just — the ball is in rapid revolution and no obstruc- 
tion can stay its progress. 

Here is District 9 — Marshal P. Pheland — and close on its steps is the 10th, 
commanded by Col. Cumming. Mark the features of the men who compost 
these delegations. The " Dandies " and the " Rag Barons" are not among them, 
Such are not the inmates of that "Log-cabin." They caught not the Wild-cai 
which furnished that skin which ornaments the roof — they are not the childrer 
of ease and luxury who eat the " corn bread " and drink the " hard cider " of the 
"Log cabin." And look at that Shanty of the "Mad-river Trappers" — thf 
" loafers" and " speculators " had no hand in trapping that Otter and huntinu 
those Coons. But the men who did have come up here to trap the high officiah 
who have deceived tlieir confidence, and to hunt them out oi places for which the\ 
are incompetent or unworthy. 

But that numerous delegation has passed by with all their ingenious insignia 
and District 11, led by Col. Lofland — and 12, by Col, G. M. Young, are' before 
us. And another band of musicians are pouring fourth the notes of gladness — 
and huzzas are following huzzas — and shout answering shout still fills the air — 
and flags and banners still wave before our astonished eyes — and 'yet they come! 
That miniature Steamboat ! drawn by five horses in tandem — the team seems tc 
have caught the patriotic infection and to display the flag at the head of each ir 
accordance with the universal spirit of the day. Aptly dees that curious structure 
remind us, how a government unwisely or viciously administered has diverted oi 
obstructed the natural channels of our prosperity and advancement. 

And 'yet they come!' District 13, commanded by Marshal T. A Jones — anc 
14 — Col. R. Morton, — and 15 — Col, Milford, — and banners and mottoes stif 
crowd on our sight, and the voice of music and rejoicing still fall upon our ears, 
There comes, indeed, a beautiful fabric! A ship, full rigged and manned 
Her sails all set — her rigging taut — her crew of Forty, a company of brave ant 
hardy spirits ! With lungs of stentors and hearts of men — hear their loud huzzas 
for Harrison and for their country. That specimen of ingenuity hails from oui 
City of the Lake. Her voyage of 130 miles has been rough and dithcult — it has 
tried the icind of those fine horses, and would have tried the patience of the 
patriotic crew, had they been less in earnest. But here they are — and there 
is the Brig, ' William Henry Harrison.' She reminds the beholder of our de- 
pressed commercial interests, and appeals to him for efTorts to redress theii 
grievances — for mark the motto of her flag — 'Flourish Credit, Flourish Com- 
merce.' Tlie ship goes on her way — may the feeling which animated her build- 
ers and now excites her ardent and determined crew, pervade the virtuous and en- 
lightened of our country, until it is reclaimed from oppression and restored to 
wonted prosperity. 

Here come other thousands — the Delegation of the 16th District— led by Col. 
A, Buskirk — and the 17th — J, Ebersole,"Esq., — and the 18lh — Gen. Coulter— 
and the 19th closes this segment of the grand procession. And as they pass — 
their flags are still unfurled to the breeze — and their standards are lifted high and 
bold — and they proclaim the "words of truth and soberness" — "Harrison and 
Tyler"- "The men of the people." "He is honest, he is capable, he is faithful 



19 

to the Constitution." "Clar de kitchen for ohl Tip." Thus do they proclaim 
the will of the people — and hark! how the loud and prolonged huzzas a'-severate 
the sure fnltiiment ot' that will. If there be one who loves power more than rijiht, 
the plunder more than the plaudits of his countrymen, let him tremble at the mani- 
festations of this auspicious day — for vox popull vox dci. Who are those who 
pass us next? Their marshal is a Hunter of tlie forest — his accoutrements are 
those of the Western Pioneer — his trappings denote his character — and the thirty 
who follow him have the grave bearing which befit their advanced age and the 
firm tread of the courageous soldier? Such, indeed, thej' are — they fought and 
conquered with Harrison in his North Western campaign. 'J hat veteran, who 
heads the band, wears before us now the knapsack and the tin cup which he wore 
in Fort Meigs. And these tried patriots, when they knew that their old com- 
mander was again before his country — called by the people to anotlier and a 
higher service — have come hither to bear witness to his exalted merit, and to 
publish their faith in his fitness and his virtue. 

And who are these — another company who came with besom in hand, as if 
there were work of purification to be done — some Augean stable to be cleansed, 
demanding Herculean hands, and bold hearts and stubborn nerves to execute the 
task — bearing on their brooms the motto — "Harrison and Reform!" They tell 
their own story. They have discovered that the process is needful to the salva- 
tion of their country — and here they have come to unite in the resolution that the 
operation shall be porformed — and the stable swept. 

Here yet another group advances. They are sons of the Empire State — ming- 
ling with one accord in the outpouring of patriotic emotion and rejoicing in the 
happy promises of the occasion. They are sons of the Empire State — but their 
hearts are for "their country, and their whole country." Such is the sentiment 
they inscribe on the colors they bear — "From West the star of Empire takes its 
rise — New York hails it." "Our sufferings is intolerable." And now, the last 
great throng approaches. They are the inhabitants of the Capital and promiscu- 
ous hundreds of citizens from various parts of the extended State. But, though 
they come from far and near, one mind and one purpose are with them. They 
acknowledge alike the stirring truths which their numerous streamers tell — they 
feel alike the joyous impression of the music which delights the ear— and hear! 
how they resound, in olt repeated echo, the huzzas of the multitude before ihera, 
as they close up the long procession. 

It only remains to inform the reader that the procession, which we have endea- 
vored to picture to the mind's eye, having traversed the principal streets of the 
City, terminated at the spot where the Convention of the previous day was held. 
Here tiie multitude who had forir.ed it was joined by the thousands who had not 
made a part uf it. The Officers of the Convention having assumed tlieir places, 
the vast assemblage was called to order. Although the lain continued to fall, this 
immense concourse of citizens, entered upon the duties before them, pursued the 
deliberations for which they had congregated, heard the reports of their Com- 
mittees, and considered and adopted them as tire reader is already advised. It 
was at this session of the Convention that eloquent and able addiesses were de- 
livered by Charles Anthony, Esq., of Clark, and John C. Wright Esq., ol Cin- 
cinnati. These speeches were of great power and efiect — commanding the un- 
tneasured applauses of the many thousands who heard them — chained to the spot 
in spite of the inclemency of the weather. We trust our fellow citizens who did 
not hear, may yet have the privilege of reading them. 

At 4 o'clock in the afternoon of tlie 22d, the objects of this extraordinary gather- 
ing of the people having been accomplished, with the same order and dignity 
which liad distinguished its assembling and marked its proceedings, the Harrison 
and Tvler Convention was dissolved. The Convention was no more — but its 



20 

memory, its action, its power and its influence remain — these may not be mea- 
sured — they belong to the revelations of the future. 

We have yet much to communicate to our readers of this imposing and remark- 
able event. It is of the duties of our place — and to do our duty is the efibrt of 
our life. 

We might write a volume on this subject — recording the incidents of the two 
days — and leave it unexhausted. We limit what we propose further to add, 
however, to a few prominent circumstances which ought not to be omitted, and 
some sketches of speeches which we authorized our readers to expect. 

We alluded formerly to the address of Gen. Murpliy — in the afternoon of 
Friday during the first setting of the Convention. It is not in our power to give 
the reader the substance even of this speech — but, one scene connected with it, 
(which has oflended the sublimated morality of patent democracy and appeared 
in its pure eyes as most disgusting blasphemy,) has been communicated by a 
friend and ought to be preserved. It is well that the world should know what 
constitutes 'blasphemy' in the estimation of a Van Buren Democrat. 

"The incident was strikingly impressive," says the narrator. "Twenty thou- 
sand citizens stood around the orator, catching with eagerness, but perfect still- 
ness, his words of eloquence and truth. He called on his hearers to rejoice that 
such men as Harrison and Tyler yet lived to redeem our common country from 
the abyss of ruin in wliich it was nearly engulphed; he invited their attention to 
the many grey-headed fathers, the active men ' of other days' then mingling with 
them — who, like Lighthouses on a dreary coast, were pointing the youthful 
mariners to tlie only sure haven of safety and repose, from the storm of political 
corruption howling around them — and, laying one hand on the silvery head of the 
venerable President of the Convention (who sat near him,) the speaker raised the 
other reverently towards heaven and uttered the earnest prayer that the God of 
mercy would preserve his valuable life and the lives of those of his cotemporaries 
who yet lingered with him in this world, to witness once more the re-establish- 
ment of the old principles of civil and religious liberty, the rebuilding of the insti- 
tutions of our fathers, and the redemption of our country from the grasp of a ' base 
born tyranny' more odious to freemen than that of the scaflbld and the sword. 
The incident" adds our friend, "was thrillingly im})ressive and produced a sensa- 
tion upon the vast assemblyge wiiich the beholder could see but no man can de- 
scribe." Such was the ' disgusting blasphemy' which so painfully shocked the 
religious sensibilities of patent democrats. Gen. Murphy is not alone — these 
fastidious moralists will be required to mourn over the irreverence of countless 
thousands of just such blasphemers. 

We are reminded, by this recurrence to Gen. Murphy's address, of an incident 
related to us by an eye witness, and which would doubtless have been esteemed 
equally impious. Gen. Murphy's critic being the judge. "I was a passenger" 
said our inibrmant, "on one of the hindmost boats of the fleet whicli bore the 
Ross delegation to the Convention. In sweeping around the eastern verge of the 
Big Basin, four miles above Chillicothe, the line of boats formed a beautiful 
curve which brought the whole in full view of those on the deck where I stood. 
Suddenly we saw the standards of the leading boats crew waving in the air — the 
crowd on the deck, with heads bare and hats in hand, cheering with loud huzzas, 
an aged and venerable genUeraan, who stood alone on the opposite bank, grace 
fully acknowledging the token of respect, and as he bowed his reverend head the 
silver locks streamed over his shoulders like threads of fine white silk upon the 
breeze. The German Band struck up our national hymn — and 'Hail Columbia' 
fell upon the delighted ear — and boat after boat passed on — the stars and stripes 
were made to kiss the surface of the rippling waters — and crew after crew paid 



21 

the homage due to age and virtue — and again and again did the venerable man of 
God salute the patriotic hundreds, with the solemnity and dignity befitting his 
own useful and irreproachable life and character — and bless them in their way 
and errand. 'Peace be with you. The God of peace be with you,' were his 
words. He was the Rev. Dr. Wilson, late President of the Ohio University. 
' The blessing of such a man,' adds the friend who relates the anecdote, ' is worth 
more than Gen. Murphy's revilers are capable of understanding.' 

There is one occurrence, or rather one series of occurrences, connected with 
our subject which justice forbids us to pass over. The arrival of the Brigand 
its jolly tars was of itself an event which attracted general curiosity — but its arri- 
val was associated with other circumstances which heightened its interest and 
appealed to high and noble feelings — and, be it remembered, that this was an 
occasion and a time, when lofty principles and generous impulses were in the 
ascendant — when tlie spirit of freedom and truth, if ever, ' ruled the hour.' The 
Brig came from Cleveland, the City of Cuyahoga County — the City and County 
of Lloyd, a member of the General Assembly, whose name is familiar to our 
readers. They are aware of the severe trials to which he has been submitted — 
and some of them know the firmness and decision with which he has sustained 
himself under difficulties such as have overwhelmed older and more established 
men. Mr. Lloyd's constituents are remote from the Capital — his enemies were 
said to have been diligent in their efforts to weaken their confidence in their 
Representative — and very recently it had been announced that he was condemned 
by the judgment of those who, of all the world, would be expected to encourage 
and support him under the assaults of his enemies. It is true that he had received 
very satisfactory testimonials from many of his temporary neighbors, that the 
decisions of his political adversaries upon the accusations against his moral recti- 
tude, had not impaired his character in their estimation — but it remained to be 
shewn that the faith of his ' own people' was unaflected, and that the friends of 
his home and his fireside were true to him in his day of adversity. And it was 
shown now. The reception of Lloyd by the Cuyahoga Delegates was testimony 
of priceless value to him, and of pleasant meaning to every generous bosom. 
We need not be particular — the demonstrations were sincere, abundant and oft 
repeated. It was no reluctant and doubtful welcome they gave their bold and 
faithful Representative. They took not his hand with the diffidence and cold- 
ness of equivocal estimation, — but the warm and zealous grasp of assurance and 
affection — and the reiterated huzzas of the hundred voices which went forth from 
the Ship's company, while they spoke to the ears of the thousands around them, 
made their way to the heart of that brave young man. It was a happy moment 
for Lloyd, and of gratifying purport to the thinking mind. A public servant who 
guards with fidelity the interests and honor of the people, will not by the people 
be deserted. He who fails to maintain his own rights and his own honor may 
not be entrusted with the custody of those of his fellow citizens. Nor was it 
alone from his own peculiar constituents that Mr. Lloyd received most satisfac- 
tory proofs that he was justly appreciated by public opinion. In various forms 
and on numerous occasions did the thousands who filled the streets of the city tes- 
tify their conviction of his integrity and honor. 

We shall give the reader, in our next, some specimens (imperfect, to be sure,) 
of the eloquent and patriotic speeches which this Convention called forth. 

Among the numerous evidences of the real character of this great assembly of 
citizens, is one circumstance which we are not at liberty to pass over. Without 
stopping to inquire into the reasons, (which we think are already obvious to the 
reader,) or to speculate upon the indications of the fact, we remark that, it is a 
fact of most pleasant import, that the instances of inebriety, among the thousands 



22 

of people congregated on this occasion, were, if they existed at all, so few as to 
escape the knowledge of persons who mingled with the vast crowd incessantly 
for the two days. Tlie writer of this has heard the observation from a dozen gen- 
tlemen, at least, that during the whole time an intoxicated man was not seen by 
them. We will not affirm that there was no instance of inebriation. It is hardly 
imaginable that 20 to 30 thousand persons should remain together, under such 
circumstances, two, three, or four days, and no case of excess in drinking occur. 
We are bound, however, to express the opinion, that one tenth part of the num- 
ber of men have never before assembled in this country on a like occasion, with 
so few instances of intemperance. 

Nevertheles, it has been unblushinglj'- declared, yea, published to the whole 
country, through the columns of the newspapers, that this Convention of citizens 
was composed of ' Drunkards, Blackguards, &c.,' — that it was chiefly character- 
ized by ' drunkenness, low and filthy songs,' &c.! We allude to this, not to con- 
tradict, but to mark it as one of the ' signs of the times,' by which we are admon- 
ished of the deep degradation of the public press and the lamentable extent of 
political corruption. Truth, and justice, and honor, seem to have become obso- 
lete — the names are remembered, but their significance forgotten. Let us rejoice 
however, that in this very Convention we have the best and surest pledge that the 
end of chicanery and fraud approaches, and the day of reformation is at hand. 
There is no more doubt — no more fear — no more hesitancy about it. Whoso- 
ever has watched the motions of the popular mind is filled with confidence, and 
knows that deliverance and safety is near. 

The reader needs not to be told that twenty thousand men, in the capacity of 
a deliberative body, must of necessity, transact the details of their business 
through the instrumentality of Committees. The poor attempt has been essayed 
to represent this great assemblage as submitting to the dictation of a few persons 
in reference to the important objects of its convocation. Singularly ridiculous 
does the effort appear to those who knew the temper and the feelings of the free- 
men who composed that congregation. The writer was one of one hundred and 
ninety who constituted a Committee to select a candidate for the office of Gov- 
ernor — ten, from each Congressional District, appointed by the respective Dele- 
gations. If any principle less powerful than love of country and of liberty had 
influenced the men of this Convention, here, in this Committee, was the place 
for its development. But in this, as in every other operation of the Convention, 
local predilections and personal preferences were manifestly merged in a high 
toned sentiment of disinterested patriotism. And while there were those who 
believed that considerations of expediency recommended tiie adoption of another 
as the Gubernatorial Candidate, never did nomination receive a more hearty 
assent than did that of THOMAS CORWIK from the members of that Coni- 
raittee. The proofs of this fact were most cheering and conclusive. It would 
have been strange, indeed, if every mind had at once been found concentrated on 
ihe same individual — but, when a majority had disclosed their choice, and that 
choice was CORWIN, delegation after delegation, with the alacrity and sincerity 
inspired by the sense of a common danger and the importance of a common 
object, surrendered their partialities for other individuals, and plighted their troth 
and faidi to the cordial and zealous sup])ort of Mr. CORWIN. Not the cold and 
reluctant pledges, the fruits of constraint and necessity, but the free, generous 
and earnest resolutions of men acting independently in behalf of a suflering 
country. The scene was one to be admired and remembered. We might dwell 
upon its incidents and interest the reader — but, we hasten to conduct him to 
another. 

During the sitting of the Convention in the afternoon of Saturday, the people, 
eager to hear the views of their distinguished fellow citizens on public affairs, 
called loudly for Mr. Anthonv to address them. This gentleman, known as an 



23 

able and tried public servant, had been looked to by many as the most suitable can- 
didate for the Chief Executive office of the State. His friends were numerous 
and warmly attached; yet, among them is, probably, not one more zealous than 
himself in support of Mr. Corwin. How warmly he espouses the nominee of 
the Convention, the sketch of his address which follows, will show. This speech 
was delivered under very uncommon circumstances. The unnumbered multitude 
of hearers stood upon the flooded streets, exposed, with their orator, to the rain 
which fell without intermission during all this time. Yet, never was audience 
more intensely interested or speaker heard with more apparent applause. 

Being wholly extemporaneous — many of its topics suggested at the instant, 
by others in the animated crowd of those who listened — our readers will see the 
impossibility of transferring it to paper in its original power and spirit. They 
will not fail, however, to be interested with the substance of 

THE SPEECH OF CHARLES ANTHONY, Esq. 

Delivered before the Convention of the 22d February. 

Mr. Anthony said, that as he had been called on yesterday when he could not 
obey the call, lie felt bound to obey the present call. He did, indeed, desire to 
say something in relation to this nomination, but he feared that, situated as they 
were, it would be asking too much to propose to detain them standing deep in 
the mud and in the falling rain to listen to a speech, (a general cry of, go on, go 
on,) and he proceeded. 

There is, in one point of view, a peculiar fitness in the nomination now before 
us. When the brave Harrison and his gallant army were exposed to the dangers 
and hardships of the Northwestern frontier — -separated from the interior on which 
they were dependent for supplies by the brush, woods, and swamps of the St. 
Mary's Country, through which there was no road, where each waggoner had to 
make his way through the woods wherever he could find a passable place, leaving 
traces and routes which are still visible in the woods for a space of several miles 
in width, and* several days' journey in length. There was one team which was 
managed and driven by a little dark complexioned hardy looking lad, about 15 or 
16 years old, who was familiarly called Tom Corwin. Through all of that ser- 
vice he proved himself a good whip and an excellent reirisman. And in the 
situation in which we are about to place him, he will be found equally skillful. 
From the wagon service he returned to his father's farm, but in consequence of an 
injury in the knee, he betook himself to education and afterwards to the study of 
law. And he is now one of the best lawyers, and one of the best men in the 
State. 

But it is not for the sake of any man or set of men, that we are induced in this 
inclement weather to assemble here in such crowds as fill this city. The great, 
the good, the brave Harrison, honest, capable, and faithful — and Virginia s lavo- 
rite, Tyler, distinguished for lionesty, judgment, and firmness, and all the other 
qualities of a great statesman — and Ohio's Corwin, identified with the people in 
all their interests — although, entitled to the confidence and love of their country- 
men, have no claims upon us suflicient to produce all this effort. 

No, gentlemen, we come to contend for high and important principles, and to 
adopt measures to rescue our Government from the hands of the spoilers. And 
this burst of feeling in behnlf of the men proposed, is not so much on account of 
their worth — worthy as they are — as on account of their being the honest instru- 
ments selected to war against the corruptions and abuses of the Government. 
The thousands by Avhom I am surrounded are stimulated by patriotism. We 
come to resist the robbers of the Government and the people — the whole list 
from the prince of public robbers, Swartwout, through the long line down to the 



24 

little petty pilferer o( outside quires. As this Convention will adjourn to-day, I 
cannot take time to specify the particular cases of defaulters and peculators, but 
there is one remarkable feature belonging to them; the mnjority now in power 
have seldom been willing to let one of tliem leave the service with only one 
pocket full. 

And this Legislature of ours, now in session, which is the most dignified body 
with which I have ever been acquainted, seems to have acted strictly upon this 
principle. For when it wag found that the State Printer had taken the outside 
quires, they re-elected him to office, although his charges for tlie printing may 
amount to some $5000 per annum more than honest and competent men offered 
to perform the same service for. This dignified Legislature has performed at 
least one thing for the public during their three months labor, they have solemnly 
established the point, that the man who takes the outside quires of the paper 
belonging to the State, ought to stand higher in the scale of morality for the act. 
Then, I ask, how awfully high should that man stand, or hang, who takes whole 
reams. 

One thing more have this Legislature done already. They have acted in part 
upon the removal of the seal of Government. It will naturallj' be asked why the 
$100,000 expended towards the new State House should be thrown away — the 
other public buildings abandoned — the beautiful and costly Asylum, and the new 
Penitentiary, be given up, and the public spirited and hospitable citizens of Co- 
lumbus disappointed in their just expectations. It is all owing to the want of a 
sufficient regard for the dignity of this Legislature. The inefficiency of the 
Speaker's warrant. Some gentlemen, of Columbus, ventured to say to Mr. 
Lloyd, that they had undiminished confidence in his lionor and integrity. This 
was too much for them to say to a person who was under the ban of the party. 
But this was not all, for this Convention was approaching. And as each wind 
wafted to them the notes of busy preparation, they were terrified at the patriot 
shouts which came rushing upon them. The Convention could not be arrested 
on a Speaker's warrant, nor expelled by a party vote. And on Thursday, as the 
people came pouring in, they determined to take themselves off at once to get out 
of our way, and to punish the Columbus people. But where shall tliey go? Old 
Fairfield says to them, we beg of you in the name of democracy, not to come 
here; for if you bring such a Legislature into this county we shall be all alive for 
Harrison and Reform, in a month. They turned to Licking with uplifted hands. 
She says, we beg of you not to come among us, we can scarcely keep our balance 
now, and if you come here, we shall give it up. Terrified at the sound of Harri- 
son and Reform, thev must remain where it is in the ascendant, and tlie people 
of Ohio will be saved the expense and inconvenience of a removal of the seat of 
Government. I am asked why they do not propose to go to Clark? I answer, 
that it is because we are nearly all on one side, and it would be very uncomfortable 
to them. And I am sure I may venture to say in behalf of the 5 or 600 Clark 
county boys, farmers, mechanics, and Mad River trappers, and indeed in behalf 
of the whole Mad River valley, with its 1500 or 2000 delegates now in this Con- 
vention, that they expect nothing, ask nothing, wish for nothing, but the triumph 
of correct principles. Uniting fully in this feeling, let me say for myself that, as 
I did not come here a seeker, I cannot be sent home a disappointed mourner. 
And let me add that whilst I recommend to others, not only union, but also con- 
stant effort in bringing out the truth before the people, I am quite willing to per- 
form my part. You may put me down a regular Circuit preacher in the Mad 
River Circuit, under Bishop Corwin. 

There is one other act of the majority of this Legislature, which ought not to 
be passed over with indifference by the people. The integrity and independence 
of the judiciary of this country must be maintained. Whenever our judges 



25 

become corrupt and venal, our liberties will be lost. The majority of the Legis- 
lature have required the candidates for the office of Judge of the Supreme Court, 
to answer interrogatories touching principles which may come before the Supreme 
Court for adjudication. This unparalleled stride in corruption ought to be 
promptly rebuked. And while in deep sorrow I call your attention to the sub- 
ject, as one which every honest man ought to turn to in sorrow and humiliation, 
let me say there is one consoling circumstance. One man was found having the 
honesty and firmness to resist the claims of party, and the temptations of oflice. 
One whom we of the 12th Judicial district know as an able and upright Judo-e, 
and a sound man. The man who spurned the attack upon the purity of the Ju- 
dicial ermine, and his personal integrity, was Joseph R. Swan — Van Buren man 
as he is, let us give him three cheers. Honor to whom honor is due. 

But to return to the main subject. — This point of the issue, made between the 
Harrison party and the party now in power, is one which ought to be seriously 
and conscientiously decided by every citizen. Let all who are opposed to the 
actual corruptions, peculations and abuses, which have marked the course of the 
high toned parly, rally around the standard of Harrison and Reform, and those 
who think that such things ought to be excused, justified and supported, must 
have the privilege of supporting the men who favor them. 

But there is another point of the issue between the parties which is very im- 
portant. We go for not only the strict limitation of Executive power, but also 
for reducing the power and patronage of the General Government, and especially 
of the Federal Executive; and to this end we are for a President of one term. 
The tendency of the doctrines, as well as the acts of the party in power, are to 
retain and to extend their power, to strengthen the hands of ihe General Govern- 
ment, to give to the Chief Executive Magistrate an all pervading influence, 
which, if successful, must in the end lead to consolidation — the concentration of 
all power within the ten miles square. I cannot detain you with the proof, as 
we are now situated, but let any man examine and reflect upon the course of that 
party for a few years back, and compare it with the doctrines of the old fashioned 
Jefferson and Madison democracy, and the conviction will be forced upon his 
mind that the people have already yielded too much to the "high powers at 
Washington." 

There is one subject upon which there is doubtless a common sympathy in 
this Assembly, and for the inconveniences of which the other party are to a great 
extent responsible. The scarcity of money. They have carried on a violent 
war against the currency, against the Banks, and against the mercantile interests, 
which necessarily operates with almost equal force upon the farmers and mechan- 
ics. They raised the cry, down with the Banks, without regard to the conse- 
quences. I am no Bank man, not the champion or friend of the Banks, not even 
a stockholder. But when they tell us that the Banks are an evil and an injury 
to the community, they ought to offer some adequate remedy. The sudden de- 
struction of the Banks, and the withdrawal of several millions of their paper from 
circulation must occasion distress. It is a subject on which they have no system. 
Some of them tell you that the paper circulation is unnecessary, and the country 
must be brought to a hard money circulation; others say they are in favor of 
paper, but they want local Banks, with personal liability and the right of repeal; 
whilst others insist that State Banks or free Banks should supply a circulation. 
But in general the theory seems to be to destroy, without any definite plan be- 
yond that. Some of us who have assisted at House raisings, and been the 
corner men upon Log cabins, could inform them that one man may throw down 
what twenty-five would be required to raise. They had the power at the last 
session of the Legislature, as at this, to create such institutions as they might 
propose for the relief of the country, to supply the place of those which they are 
4 



26 

breaking down, and might have introduced into them the principles they profess 
to wish for. It appears to be all humbug. They have no system, they propose 
no definite plan. 

But let tiie Banks take care of themselves; for as far as they are concerned, the 
Harrison party are not to be identified with them. But as the people are con 
cerncd, the recklessness of the party in power in trifling with the currency 
whilst it brings inconvenience and distress to every class and calling, it alsc 
affords another evidence of their unfitness to govern. 

This thing it is proper to consider; but at tliis time, and in this great struggle 
it is of secondary consequence. The other party will present false issues, wil 
endeavor to divide us upon questions about Banks, Abolitionism, Antimasonry 
and every thing else which they may think likely to weaken us. But let us no 
be drawn away from the great question of Reform in the General Government 
When the people shall have arrested the tide of power, and brought the govern 
ment back to its true principles; when they shall have limited and circumscribec 
within proper bounds the General Government, and especially the now kinglj 
President; when the actual corruptions and abuses of the government are stopped 
punished or remedied; we can much belter settle up the questions arising out o 
our divisions and subdivisions. 

My speech. Gentlemen, is only the preface to the resolution; let us adopt i 
unanimously and with a hearty zeal, and let all the Harrison men and all the 
friends of Reform come up to the election of their Governor as a necessary mea 
sure for the success of the great cause, and because you could not in any case 
get a better Governor, 

When Mr. Anthony had concluded his remarks — and the acclamations hae 
ceased — the Hon. John C. Wright, being on the stand, was earnestly called for 
He yielded to the invitation and addressed the multitude in a speech of grea 
eloquence and power; a sketch of which we shall lay before our readers in the 
next paper. 

We promised our readers a sketch of the address of the Hon. John C, Wright 
before the Convention on the 22d, But to those who are acquainted with tha 
gentleman's style of oratory, and especially his power of unmasking the deformi 
ties of vice anel folly, it is superfluous to remark, that in the following sketch we 
present but the skeleton of an able address which is not to be forgotten, in its 
bold outlines, by those who heard it. To appreciate its cutting satire, its severe 
truths, its inimitably caustic illustrations, one must have listened to the voice anc 
looked upon the person of the orator. The speech, like that of Col. Anthony, 
was altogether extemporaneous — but for that very reason probably it was the more 
effective. Those who have known Judge Wright in the forum or in the Senate, are 
aware, that wickedness and corruption find no favor in his hands when he comes 
athwart them upon either of those theatres. On this occasion, when it became 
his duty to confer with his countrymen about their public interests, there were 
few among the thousands who stood around him, who did not acknowledge thai 
he administered a just — but, in truth, a most merciless castigation to the unwor- 
thy office-holder. Never probably since he sat in the chair of the Senate, has 
Mr. Van Buren been handled so faithfully or so glovelessh/. 

That the reader may the better appreciate some passages of the sketch which 
follows, it is proper to inform him that Judge Wright, on his way to the Conven- 
tion, found suspended in a Tavern, the image of Mr. Van Buren painted on a bit 
of glass. In a spirit of banter he bought it as the only specimen which he and 
his fellow travellers met with on their journey. — The reader should also know, 
that the assembled people had been described, through the party 'organ' as 'fools;' 



27 

and because of an excellent likeness of the patriot, Harrison, by an artist of this 
city, and borne in the procession, as worshippers of images — as 'clans' and 
•tools' — bowing to idols and licking the spittle from their master'' s shoes, Szc. — 
and General Harrison as an 'old granny,' &c. Wiien Judge Wright was called 
on to address the Convention, the portrait of Harrison, a full-length likeness, was 
placed on the stand in view of the multitude around him, and he held in his hand 
the little image of Mr. Van Buren on glass. The rain was pouring down upon 
the vast assembly, but neither speaker nor hearers heeded rain or other thing 
while aught remained to be done. 

With these explanations we present to our readers an imperfect sketch of the 

ADDRESS OF THE HON. JOHN C. WRIGHT. 

Judg-e Wright alluded to the state of the weather — such as would render the situation of 
his audience and himself uncomforlable if they were there to consult for their personal and 
temporary pleasure — but they had higher objects and nobler purposes — and the vicissi- 
tudes of weather and rain and storm had ceased to be felt as annoyances, while the welfare 
of a beloved country was on the verge of destruction and needed to be saved from impend- 
ing ruin. He said we had reason, indeed, to be thankful to Heaven for showering its bles- 
sings so bounteously on the arid land — the earth had been parched — and the springs of 
water, as well as all the sources of the country's prosperity, had been dried up. He could 
not but regard it as a token of good — as an intimation of the approbation of a kind Provi- 
dence of the aims and the works of that patriotic assemblage of earnest and anxious and 
determined freemen. He would esteem the falling and refreshing showers, cheering and 
fructifying the natural world, as the foreruimer of change for the better in the political; 
he would please himself with the belief that, as they replenished the head-springs of the 
rivers and fertilized the inundated valleys, so would soon swell the streams of public indig- 
nation, until they overwhelmed and swept oft" the vandals who had got possession of the 
government, reduced the country to the brink of desolation and dried up the fountains of 
its prosperity and happiness. He bade the office holders, therefore, beware! On this 
birth-day of the saviour of his country the bountiful clouds are giving out their refreshing 
showers to the thirsty earth — and here, on the same day, the people have come — twenty 
thousand oppressed and indig-nant freemen — these events, said the speaker, betoken ap- 
proaching results. As the ground shall be again saturated and the flow of the springs 
shall again be full and free, so shall the abused and deceived people dismiss from their con- 
fidence and service their treacherous agents, and the country's prosperity and success set 
once more in its floodtide. Let the o.ifice holders beware! — their day of reckoning is 
coming. 

The Statesman, said Judge Wright, (alluding to the leading Van Buren paper of the 
city,) says, that the fools have come up here. The Statesman was authorliy in such a 
case — most excellent authority! But was it so? asked Judge Wright. Was the vast 
assemblage before and around him — among whom he saw much of age, of worth, respecta- 
bility and patriotism — made up oi' fools? It might be so — the wise and veracious States- 
man ought to know — did know, — but if it were so — if such men were foots, he rejoiced 
that he was one among them. He was proud to find himself in such companv, and that he 
had no part nor lot, kindred nor connexion with the wise men who belonged to the States- 
man or to whom tlie Statesman belonged. What had the wisdom of these vv-ise men done 
for the country? What joromiscs had it fulfilled? Whut pledges had it redeemed? The 
reformation it promised had been the reform of the spoiler — the prosperity it pledged for 
the country, had been tliat of the plunderer. Its professions had been fair enough and 
wise enough — its practice had struck at the foundations of public liberty and dried up the 
sources of public prosperity. It had become necessary for the fools to take care of them- 
selves— and they would do it. 

This wise Statesman, continued Judge Wright, charges that we ivors/iip idols— that we 
hold images aloft and bow down before them and do them homage and reverence. He 
invited the Convention to look upon tlie portrait before them, (the excellent likeness of 
Gen. Harrison was on the platform;) it was the portrait of the manly and noble Harrison 
the soldier, the patriot, the man of his country; who defends it in war and serves it in 
peace. If we worship idols, said he, we worship good and respectable looking ones. 
We bow down to no little, creeping, contonptible thing-. He asked his fellow citizens as 
they looked at the represention of Harrison, to tliink of the man, to remember his deeds- 
his long and faithful service of his country, and ho-,v poorly had his services been requited. 
Fifty years had he given to the service of hi;; country, with more power and greater oppor- 



28 

tunlties of successful peculation than any other man ever had; jet had he come out of that 
long service with a conscience void of offence, in honorable poverty, and with hands 
unstained by spoils. He had been a patriot always and an honest: in the field, i n the Sen- 
ate, in peace and in war, in public duty and in retirement; and now, like his great pro- 
totype, tlie Roman Cincinnatus, he was called from his plough by an oppressed and 
suffering people to deliver them, not from a foreign enemy, but from domestic tyranny 
and corruption, which, though different in kind, was not the less destructive of their inter- 
ests and happiness, and required equally tiie exertions of a brave and virtuous citizen to 
subdue. Judge Wright called upon liis countrymen to look at Gen. Harrison as he was, 
as he had been, as he appeared in all the aspects of his character and all the actions of his 
life, and to say whether an honest and generous people could fail to be indignant, that 
such a man should be called by the foul-mouthed minions of power 'a coward and a 
granny!' He claimed of every patriot, as the duty which he owed to justice and honor 
and truth, and to liis country, to protect the good name of such a man from the vile and 
infamous abuse of the robbers of the public wealth and the plunderers of the public 
character. 

Judge Wright lield up, between his thumb and finger Mr. Van Buren's little glass 
image; that, he said, was the likeness of the spoilers' candidate; that was the idol which 
these 'wise' men worshipped, and the twenty thousand ^fools' whom he adddressed turned 
from in disgust; tliat was the image of a man who had no sympathies with the people: who 
took to himself and his minions the money of the country and left rag's to the people; it was 
the im-gc of a man who had deceived the country with the syren song of Democracy, but 
who never did any thing for it, and who never yet had been known to forget himself. It 
was tlie imug'e of a man wiio held, that government was instituted for the oflfice-holders, 
not for the protection and welfare of the people, and that, it had enough to do to take 
care of itself and its officers; of a man whose selfish and destructive measures had brought 
down tlie prices of production and the wages of labor to the lowest living standilrd, stag- 
nate<l commerce, obstructed business, paralized the energies of the thriftiest country in the 
world, expelled tlie circulation, emptied the public treasury, crippled the enterprise and 
capital of the wealthy, and driven the poor man to penury and despair. Such were the 
candidates for the Presidency. There was the brave and good Harrison, (pointing to the 
full length portrait on the stage.) Here was the Van Buren: the candidate of the office 
holders, (holding up the little glass image.) Here they were, such as he had described; 
such as they hati proved themselves; such as they were known. He called upon his coun- 
trymen to look at tiiem, to think of them; to remember the men, as they had been, as they 
were; their principles, their characters; he exclaimed, 

" Look here, upon tliis picture, and on this;" 
and asked the great assembly of his countrymen, which of Ihe two they would have io rule 
over them? (The shout of twenty thousand men camp up from the vast multitude, and 
long and loud huzzas for Harrison! told in a voice of thunder the answer of the throng to 
the orator's question.) When the acclamations had ceased. Judge Wright proceeded. 
He had not mistaken the opinions and feelings of the citizens whom lie addressed. Their 
repl}' to the question which he had propounded, spoke forth the patriotic emotions of 
their hearts and the indignation which they felt for the infamous efforts to calumniate and 
stigmatise one of the purest and bravest men of the age, and who, in the language of Mr. 
Madison, had done more for his country ana received less compensation for his services, 
than any other man in it. The sound of their voices, as it testified the sense which the 
people entertained of Harrison's worth, was even then striking terror into the ranks of the 
spoilers. It represented the sentiment and feeling of the country; it indicated a spirit 
which would not be repressed; a spirit which even the strong chains of partj' would find 
itself impotent to hind down; a spirit which was already assailing the strong holds of power, 
and would presently shiver their corrupt defences and break them into fragments, as the frail 
and britle image wliich he then cast upon tlie stage was broken into a thousand fragments. 
(Judge Wright did not, as it has been falsely asserted, stamp upon the image; there was 
no piece left big enongii to stamp on, if he had desired to do so, which he did not.) The 
speaker alluded to certain recent measures of the General Assembly of Ohio: adverted par- 
ticularly to the removal of the seat of government; the beautiful edifices connected with the 
Benevolent Institutions, the pride of the generous people of the State, and the enduring 
monuments of her glory; all to be cast down to gratify the malicious spleen of a few dem- 
agogues who chose to imagine their dignity invaded by an expression of popular opinion. 
He spoke with great force and eloquence in his references to these topics, and bade his 
countrymen be of good cheer! He said the day of deliverance from petty tyranny as well 
as extensive and fearftdly mischievous misrule was near at hand; that the reckless madness 



29 

and selfish folly of the office holders had aroused the people at last, and the period of their 
dominion drew nigh. The march of ruin would be at last and effectually arrested, the 
prosperity of the country restored, and its liberties and institutions saved. He exhorted 
those whom he addressed, nevertheless, to relax not in their exertions; to remember the 
cause in which they were engaged; its nature, its objects, and the vast interests which hung 
upon the issue; and that they ceased not to strive in a cause so good and for interests so 
great until the battle should be fought and the victory won. 

When Judge Wright had finished his remarks, of which we have but given to 
the reader the outlies in the foregoing sketch, the Convention proceeded to com- 
plete the business before it, and soon thereafter was dissolved. A large propor- 
tion of the citizens who had composed this great popular meeting, left the city for 
their homes in a few hours after their adjournment; but several thousands tarried. 
In the evening the throng congregated in the Market House, where, protected 
from the rain which yet continued to fall, they were interested for several hours 
by several eloquent and most impressive addresses. It was not the good fortune 
of the writer to be present on this occasion. From those who were, he has re- 
ceived very gratifying accounts of the occasion and its incidents. We are pleased 
to have it in our power to lay before our readers a speech delivered, at this time, 
by O. P. Baldwin, Esq., of Chillicothe, which, at our pressing solicitation, he 
has kindly furnished us for the purpose. We will now only say concerning it, 
that those who have enjoyed the opportunity of hearing it from the mouth of its 
author, are most desirous of being permitted the perusal of it. It shall appear in 
our next paper. 



The speech of Mr. Baldwin, which we promised in our last and which we 
now offer to our readers, will be read with profound interest. We do not hesi- 
tate to commend it to public attention, as eminently worthy of its subject and 
the occasion. We ought, perhaps, to remark, in justice to the orator, that the 
speech was delivered in obedience to a sudden and unexpected call, at a 
moment of remarkable enthusiasm, and, of course, without preparation or 
even a minute's reflection It may not therefore, be all that was said, nor 
verlalim et literatim what was said; it is, however, substantially a correct 
report — differing not from the original in thought, and rarely in language. 

It may not be uninteresting to the reader nor discourteous towards the 
orator, to say that Mr. Baldwin is a young man, and but a little while ago was 
the Editor of a Van Buren paper in which he advocated the claims of the dis- 
tinguished Democrat, as we are told, with much ability. He is now an able and 
most zealous supporter of the cause of the country, in the persons of Harrison 
and Tyler. It would be superfluous to remark to any who shall read this 
speech, that truth and patriotism find in him an advocate of superior talents — 
actuated by a warm and intrepid spirit. 

SPEECH OF O. P. BALDWIN, ESQ. 

Fellow Citizens — We have often heard the trite maxim, that our Repub- 
lic depends for its strength and perpetuity upon the virtue and intelligence of 
our people. Foreigners have affected to deride the idea that such a founda- 
tion can sustain the fabric of our institutions. And, indeed, judging from the 
past triumphs of this corrupt administration, even an American might feel 
inclined to doubt the fulfilment of his hopes, and distrust the honor of his coun- 
trymen. But, if any one has thus allowed his heart to fail him, least the 
goodly superstructure of our liberties had, after all, been built upon the sand, 
and should be washed away by the first storm, the spectacle we have this day 
witnessed must have dissipated all his apprehensions. We have seen the 
people coming to the rescue, we have seen the log cabins pouring forth their 



30 

thousands, we have seen the farmer leaving his toil, and the mechanic his 
work shop, we have seen the old man and the boy, all gathering in one mighty 
crowd to defend the constitution and the laws, and vindicate the virtue and 
intelligence of the American people. Why do we come here this day? Is 
this a convention of office holders, of men who are congregated from self- 
interest, of men who depend on the charity of the public for their daily bread, 
and wish to secure to themselves the spoils they have so long enjoyed? No. 
The m.en who compose this convention ask no favors from the public purse, 
they earn their bread by their own industry, they depend on their own strong 
arms and stout hearts for the support of themselves and their families. If 
they are governed by selfish motives, why do they not join the party in 
power? If they want bread and butter, is not Martin Van Buren always 
readj' to give it to those who will sing Hosannas in his praise? Why then are 
they Whigs? Because they love principle better than money or office. 

Of the two candidates for the Presidency, Martin Van Buren of Kinderhook, 
and General Harrison of Ohio, I wish to say a few words. Without going 
into any detail of the public or private life of Mr. Van Buren, 1 will state the 
impression which I have received of his character during the time that I 
resided in his native county, and from conversation with persons who had 
known him longand well. From early youth he has been distinguished for 
the most inordinate ambition. I do not mean to assert that ambition is a crime, 
but I mean to say, that Martin Van Buren's ambition has always been of the 
most selfish kind. It has not been that generous spirit of emulation, which, 
while it seeks great success, seeks also to deserve it. His maxim ever has 
been that the end justifies the means. And I do not doubt that if the secrets 
of his heart could be laid open, it would appear that from his very boyhood, 
he has had his eye upon the Presidency of the United States, and that to obtain 
that object he has ever been determined to make any sacrifice — to sacrifice 
principle, and honor, and friendship, to stifle every generous emotion, and 
never to do an act which would not have a bearing, directly or indirectly, upon 
the great end he had in view. His whole life shows that he has acted upon 
this resolution. When he found that the friends who encouraged him in his 
youth, were not as influential as others, who were their enemies, he gave 
them up. When these in their turn could no longer be serviceable to him, he 
deserted them also, always, however, managing to get one step higher on the 
ladder. You all know how he treated De Witt Clinton, a man whom he had 
professed to love and honor. That great statesman found to his cost, that in 
assisting to elevate Van Buren from obscurity, he had only lifted a viper from 
the ground, which repaid him for his kindness by stinging the hand that raised 
it. And thus has he constantly proceeded, using his friends as stepping stones, 
and crawling along up the hill", till he has at last arrived at the top, and thus 
verified the saying of the poet, that "worms may creep where eagles dare not 
soar." 

Now place by the side of such a picture, the character of William Henry 
Harrison, the Cincinnatus of North Bend. If he has ambition, it is of that 
noble kind which will either gain its objects honorably, or not at all. His 
ambition is not a devouring flame, which consumes the heart, while it lights 
the mind to greatness. His ambition has been for his country, and not for 
himself; for free principles, and not for the elevation of his own name. You 
all know there is no such thing as selfishness in his nature. It has ever been 
generous, manly, kind; and though he may live in a log cabin, yet its doors 
are ever open to his friends, and the stranger and the poor man are never 
turned away from its hospitable board. Let his old fellow soldiers call on 
him, and see if he has forgotten them, or will cast them from him like broken 
tools no longer fit for use. No. That may be Martin Van Buren's nature, 



31 

but it is not the nature of William Henry Harrison. And as for that desire 
for the Presidency which has characterized Martin Van Buren from the time 
when he went to school, I do not believe that General Harrison would have 
thought of such a thing to this day, of his own accord. He had left public 
life as he supposed for ever; he had satisfied himself with the laurels he had 
already acquired in battle; he had retired to labor on his farm. And it was 
there at that honest employment; it was there, working with his own hands; 
it was there, following his plough, that the country Ibuno him, when she 
offered him the highest, the best reward in the gift of man, the Presidency of 
a free people. 

Let us now return to Martin Van Buren again; and since there is nothing in 
his character to recommend him, let us see if there is any thing in his conduct 
as a public man which should induce us to yield him our support. Where 
was he in the late war? Our country was then in an hour of adversity, of 
bitter trial. She was assailed by the power of an immense empire, and on 
her North-western border the clouds of war were thickening, and hordes of 
mercenary soldiers and savages were doing their work of slaughter and 
pillage. Our country needed men. Her armies required to be supplied. She 
called, she implored all her sons to go up and help her. Did Van Buren 
answer that call? No. Where was he? Snugly seated at Kinderhook, 
warming his feet by the fire. He never raised his arm in her defence. He 
never fired a gun at her enemies. Fighting was not in his line. The sword 
and the rifle were not his weapons. The sight of cold steel gave him an 
ague. In the expressive language of an Indian, " he too much dars'^nt.'''' 

And now what has he ever done in civil lite? Has he ever benefited our 
commerce or our trade? Has he ever originated any great plan for the 
national advancement? No. But instead of all this, he has deranged the 
finances of the nation, and brought general distress and insolvency upon the 
land. What has he ever done for the West? When and where did he ever 
raise his voice in her behalf ? Nowhere. He has uniformly acted and voted 
against the interests and prosperity of this portion of the Union. And in all 
his public career, he has exhibited the most shameful inconsistency, inconsis- 
tency with his own avowed principles, inconsistency with his own previous 
actions. So perpetually is he shifting his ground, that there is no knowing 
where to find him. And 1 know not what reason he can give for his muta- 
tions, unless indeed he answers as a Shaker once answered to some one who 
asked him, "why do you Shakers always turn round in a circle?" " Why," 
he replied, "does'nt the scripture sav, 'Turn ye, turn ye, for why will ye 
die?'" 

Let us now return to General Harrison, and see if his public life has been 
as useless as that of Van Buren. I need not inquire of you where General 
Harrison was when the flame of war raged upon our frontiers. Instantly, 
instantly he girded his sword to his side, and flew to the rescue. You know 
how arduous was the task committed to his hands, how vast was the extent of 
country he was obliged to defend with a small force, and how numerous and 
well appointed were the armies of the enemy. But he succeeded in every 
battle — he never knew defeat, — and at length driving the foe from our 
shores, he carried the war into their own Territories, and most signally 
routed them at their own firesides. Ohio owes it to General Harrison, that 
her sons were saved from slaughter, and her daughters from the violence of a 
brutal soldiery. Ohio owes it to General Harrison that all her fields were not 
laid waste, her cities burned to ashes, her hearths crimsoned with the blood of 
her children. Go, visit Lake Erie, gaze upon the fleets, the white winged 
messengers of commerce, which cover her waters; go, view the fair and 
flourishing cities upon her borders, whose streets resound with the hum of a 



32 

busy population, and whose spires rise proudly towards Heaven, and then 
remember that Ohio owes it to General Harrison, that that Lake is serviceable 
to our trade, that those cities have arisen in the wilderness, and that the altars 
of a pure faith are not superseded by the foul rites of Indian idolatry. And 
the government of the United States owes it to General Harrison, that the 
most fruitful portion of her Territory, the West, the beautiful West, the 
brightest star in our national banner, is not transfered to deck the diadem of a 
British King. And what has Martin Van Buren ever done for his country that 
will compare with benefits like these? 

But time would fail me were I to attempt even a brief enumeration of all 
the services which entitle the Hero of Tippecanoe and the Thames to the 
gratitude and suffrages of American citizens. There is another light in which, 
for my own part, I love to regard him as much as in his military career. 
There is a name, by which he is sometimes called, which to my ear has more 
music, and speaks to my heart with a more moving eloquence, than the title of 
Hero and Conqueror. It is the name of the poor man's friend. He has won 
this title most justly, most honorably. Contrary to his own interests, he pro- 
cured the passage of the law by which the Western lands were to be sold in 
such small portions that every poor and industrious citizen could obtain an 
ownership in the soil, and a support for himself and his family. This single 
measure has enhanced the prosperity of the West beyond all calculation; it 
has brought within our borders the tide of emigration; it has assisted to clear 
away the forests, and introduce the abodes of man, and the comforts of civili- 
zation into the heart of the wilderness. It has done more. It has narrowed 
the line of distinction which before existed between the rich and the poor, and 
checked the tendency of that spirit of aristocracy which had already begun 
to display itself in a republican country. It has given the poor man an in- 
terest in his country, in her institutions, in her prosperity. He feels that she 
is his own country, that her welfare is his welfare; and with the means to 
educate his children, he looks forward with happy expectation to the time 
when they shall be able to fill a place in the councils or the armies of his 
native land. General Harrison has indeed been the poor man's friend, and at 
the next election, the poor men will prove it. Let our opponents sneer at the 
poverty of our candidate. Wait till next October, and the people from the log 
cabins will teach them a lesson in good manners, such as it is to be hoped, 
they will not soon forget. 

It is alleged by the friends of the Administration that General Harrison has 
never distinguished himself except as a Military Chieftain. This comes with 
remarkable propriety from the party which supported General Jackson for 
the Presidency, a man who never composed one of the Messages or State 
papers to which his signature was affixed. But the charge is false. The 
Administration of General Harrison as Governor of the North-western Terri- 
tory, is alone sufficient to refute the allegation. His reported speeches in the 
House of Representatives and the Senate of the United States; his letter to 
General Bolivar, the various productions of his pen which have graced our 
literary periodicals, all exhibit him to us, in the most favorable light as a 
Statesman, a profound and correct thinker, an eloquent debater, and a classical 
and fascinating writer. That he has not the same kind of talent with Mr. 
Van Buren we frankly admit. He is not a crafty and insinuating politician. 
He does not seek like a feeble vine to entwine himself around the popularity 
of others, and thus arrive at a lofty elevation. No. Like the majestic trees 
of our western wilds, he depends on his own native vigor, on his own self- 
derived strength, and with no other aid than these, we shall soon see him lift 
his head above the sickly parasite which has raised itself into notice, by 
clinging to the old hickory for support. 



33 

Another of the slanderous assertions of the loco foco press is the charge 
that General Harrison is a coward. I will not insult your understandings by 
offering a grave reply to such an absurd and scandalous libel. In connexion 
with this charge may be noticed the petticoat story, that insane attempt of 
our loco-foco brethren to be witty and sarcastic. In the plenitude of their 
generosity they are pleased to present us with a petticoat for our candidate. 
We are reluctant to deprive them of so necessary a part of their own ward- 
lobe. We do not wish them to be generous at the expense of their own con- 
venience. They should recollect that a war is expected by many with Great 
Britain, and in that case, they may have use for the petticoat themselves. 
But if they insist upon it, we will take it. Let them invest the old soldier 
with the petticoat; let them call him the "old Woman," let them take the 
sword from him, and place a broom in his hand, and if they will wait patiently 
till the election, we venture to say that the way that "old Woman'" wiU handle 
her broom, and sweep the country, and "clear the kitchen," will make the 
name of "old Woman" illustrious to the end of time. 

Again, gentlemen, if General Harrison, is, as his enemies represent him, a 
coward and an ignoramus, is it not most stiange that the Whigs should have 
selected him as their candidate for the Presidency? Our opponents will not 
deny that there is some sagacity, some judgment, some political tact in the 
ranks of the opposition; nor will they deny, I presume, that the Convention 
which nominated General Harrison was composed of a most venerable and 
talented body of men, many of whom had mingled in political strife from their 
early youth. Of course these men were desirous their cause should succeed, 
and they knew the obstacles they would have to overcome, and they knew how 
much depended on the person who was their candidate, and they had their 
choice among the bravest and wisest of the land, and yet, we are told, they 
chose for their representative, a coward and an ignoramus. Oh, but, say our 
opponents, "they chose him because he was the most available candidate." 
They did indeed ; and let me ask these wise men, what made him the most 
available candidate? Will these democrats tell us that the people, whose 
sagacity they are so fond of praising on all other occasions, are thus despe- 
rately in love with a coward and ignoramus? 

I believe the only remaining crime of which General Harrison is accused, is 
old age. It is not proved that age has impaired the strength and acuteness of 
his intellect, or diminished the vigor of his body. From all that I can learn 
on the subject, the lapse of time seems only to have increased the firmness of 
his mind, and the greatness of his heart. We are told by an inspired penman 
that "a hoary head is a crown of glory if it be found in the ways of righteous- 
ness." The life of General Harrison has been characterized by an integrity 
unsurpassed by the most distinguished instances of human virtue recorded on 
the tablets of history. It may be his fault in the eyes of some politicians that 
he is both old and honest. But we cannot so consider it. The country does 
not so consider it. And, with us, such an old age as General Harrison's, is a 
recommendation and not a disadvantage. He stands before us like some 
ancient oak, with its many roots riveted to the soil, and its broad limbs spread 
in bold outline against the sky. Long will the sunlight of honor and renown 
linger amid its venerable branches. And when at last, that brave old tree, 
lashed by the storm, and riven by the lightning, shall totter to its fall, around 
its trunk will the ivy of popular affection that has so long clasped it, still cling, 
and mantle with greenness and verdure its ruins and decay. 

Fellow citizens, will we not go home, and do all in our power to rescue our 

government from the unfortunate hands into which it has fallen? There are 

men here of gray hairs, men who perhaps assisted to win for us the freedom 

which we now enjoy; old men, who saw the birth of our Republic, and yet, 

5 



84 

who are not so old, but that if the Administration party again prevail, they 
may follow the Republic to its grave. And if they do, I know that they them- 
selves would not wish to survive. I call upon them again to step into the field, 
again to save the ark of liberty from the unhallowed hand of its enemies. I 
call upon them to use their influence. And even should they not, by reason of 
their mfirmities, be able to say much in our behalf, let them only show them- 
selves on our side, let the people only see that they are with us, that such men 
are Whigs, that such men are the friends of General Harrison, and it will be 
enough. Their very appearance will argue a righteous cause, their grey 
hairs will plead with more than human eloquence, their wounds will speak 
trumpet tongued, and with an angel's voice, in behalf of the justice and the 
patriotism of our principles. 

I call upon the young men who with myself are just embarking on the sea 
of life. We have not the consolation which our fathers have, should our lib- 
erties be now overthrown. They may find a refuge from their sorrow and 
mortification in the grave. But we may live, live only to remember that we 
once were freemen. We may live to see the Sun of rational liberty set 
forever, and the dismal night of anarchy or despotism succeed. We may live 
to behold such scenes as France witnessed in her revolution, when a nation of 
unchained demons seemed turned loose upon the earth; we may see the doc- 
trines of agrarianism and infidelity triumphant, the laws of morality and good 
order set at defiance, until some American Napoleon shall arise, and erect an 
unlimited monarchy upon the ruins of the Republic. Would we not better die 
than live to behold such a spectacle? If we would prevent such a result, if 
we would secure the inheritance of our freedom, let us now do it. We have a 
gallent, a noble leader. We have at our head a tried old soldier, a man, whose 
ancestors for centuries have been the sworn friends of human rights, a man 
whose veins are full of Republican blood, a man who has met the enemies of 
his country before, and has conquered them wherever they were to be found. 
With such a leader, and in such a cause, success is certain. 



RESOLUTIONS OF THE CONVENTION. 

Resolved, That the permanency of our republican institutions depends upon preserv- 
ing, unimpaired, to the several States, and to each branch of the General Government, the 
full and free exercise of their respective constitutional rights. 

Resolved, That the practical tendency of our Government, as at present administered, is 
to concentrate all political power and influence in the National Government, and to throw 
the power, thus concentrated, into the hands of the President. 

Resolved, That to prevent the attainment of absolute power by the National Executive; 
and to restore to the legislative and judicial branches of the General Government, and to the 
several States, the free and unbiased exercise of their constitutional rights — the following 
principles should be adopted and enforced: 

First. That the power of the President, to appoint, and remove officers at his plea- 
sure, which is the great source of his overwhelming influence, should be restricted within 
the narrowest hmits allowed by the Constitution. 

Second. That as all offices are created for the benefit of the people — the advancement 
of the public good should be the sole motive of official action. 

Third. That no person should serve as President for more tlian one term, so that he 
can have no motive to administer the Government with reference to his own re-election. 

Fourth. That any law which will place the public moneys of the nation in the hands 
of the President, or In hands of officers appointed by him, removable at his pleasure, and, 
therefore, subservient to his will, is obviously calculated to Increase his power and influ- 
ence — is contrary to the spirit of the Constitution, and Is dangerous to the liberties of the 
people. 

Fifth. That the practice of appointing members of Congress to offices in the gift of 



3d 

the President, is calculated to corrupt the members of that body, and give the Executive 
a dangerous influence over the legislative branch of the Government. 

Sixth. That the immediate representatives of the people are most competent to decide 
questions relating to the general welfare of the Nation — and that the veto power of the 
Executive should seldom or never be exercised, except to preserve the Constitution from 
manifest violation. 

Seventh. That no offices should be created, except such as are required by the 
the public good; and that the creation of any office, agency, trust or place, for the pur- 
pose of rewarding partisan services, or gratifying political favorites, is a flagrant abuse 
that calls loudly for correction. 

Eighth. That the practice of considering offices 'the spoils of political victory,' bestow- 
ing them as rewards for partisan services, or taking them away as a punishment for polit- 
ical independence — tends to make men mercenary in their motives, coiTupt in the exer- 
cise of their privileges, and to vest in the President despotic power. 

Ninth. That the use of official power or the facilities afforded by official station, to 
influence elections, is an improper interference with the rights and dangerous to the liber- 
ties of the people. 

Resolved, That all salaries, or official compensation, of whatever kind, should be a fair 
equivalent for the services rendei-ed, taking into view the skill and talents required, and 
nothing more,- so that pecuniary emolument can never form a leading inducement to seek 
for, or accept office. 

Resolved, That if it be the interest of office holders to appropriate any portion of their 
salaries to electioneering purposes, with a view to sustaining those from whom they hold 
their appointments, and themselves in office, (as proved to be the case with the Custom 
House officers in New York,) it is conclusive evidence that those salaries are too high, and 
should be reduced. 

Resolved, That all officers should be held to a rigid accountability for the manner in 
which they discharge their official duties, and especially for all public moneys that may 
come into their hands. 

Resolved, That a careful appropriation of the public money to specific objects — its 
scrupulous application to the specific objects only to which it is appropriated, with rigid 
economy in its expenditure, are necessary, in order to prevent its use for electioneering 
purposes, as well as to preserve the people from oppressive taxation. 

Resolved, That it is the duty of the General and State Governments, to secure a safe and 
uniform currency, as well for the use of the people, as for tlie use of the Governments, 
so far as the same can be done without transcending the constitutional limits of their au- 
thority; and that all laws calculated to provide for the office holders a more safe or valua- 
ble currency than is provided for the people, tend to invert the natural order of things — 
making the servant superior to the master, and are both oppressive and unjust. 

Resolved, That we oppose the re-election of Martin Van ]3uren to the Presidency — 

Because, in all his official acts, as President, he has shown a disposition to increase the 
already overgrown power and influence of the Executive, at the expense of the co-ordi- 
nate branches of the Government. 

Because he has repeatedly shown his disregard of the will of the people, as expressed 
by their immediate representatives in Congress. 

Because he has constantly sought, and is still seeking, to unite the purse to the sword 
of the nation, and to place both in the hands of the Executive. 

Because he practices upon the abominable doctrine that 'offices are the spoils of politi- 
cal victory;' bestowing them as rew.ards of party subserviency, regardless of the unfitness 
of the persons selected; and removing the most faithful and competent public officers for 
the sole crime of thinking and acting as freemen. 

Because he permits and encourages officers holding appointments under him, improperly 
to interfere in political contests, thus 'bringing the patronage of the General Government 
into conflict witli the freedom of elections.' 

Because he permits the holders of public moneys to renoain in office after they are 
known to be pubUc defaulters; and finally to escape with millions of the people's money. 

Because he has been at tlie head of the Administration party for three years, and instead 
of reforming manifest abuses he has permitted them to increase to an alarming extent. 

Because lie has shown an utter disregard both of the wishes and the sufferings of the 
people, replying with, the most heartless indifference to their prayers for relief, 'that the 
people expect too much from the government.' 

Because he has done nothing to entitle him either to the gratitude or to the confidence 
of the American People. 

Because no man should be elected President of the United States for two terms in suc- 
cession— and Martin Van Buren least of all. 



36 



Bevolved, That we will use all fair and honorable means to insure the election of Wil- 
liam Henry Harrison to the Presidency — 

Because both his civil and military qualifications and services entitle him to the confi- 
dence, and to the gratitude of his countrymen. 

• Because he stands pledged before the American people to carry out the great principles 
which we have laid down as necessary to preserve the purity and the permanency of our 
republican institutions. 

Because we know him to be an honest man who will redeem his pledge. 

Because he is, emphatically, the people's candidate — brought forward by the people in 
opposition to the candidate of the office holders. 

Because the people are determined to elect him. 

Because the people can elect him — and 

Because the People will elect him. 

Resolved, That we support the election of John Tyler as Vice President: 

Because we believe him to be capable, honest, and faithful to the Constitution— and, 

Because we believe him to be a firm and able supporter of the rights of the States, of 
the rights and powers of the legislative and judicial branches of the Gener.al Government, 
and of the reform of tlie abuses of the Administration, and in all respects a suitable candi- 
date for the station for which he is nominated. 

Resolved, Tliat the mismanagement of our public affairs is not confined to the adminis- 
tration of the National Government; but, that abuses exist in our State Government which 
call loudly for correction; among which the following are conspicuous: 

The practice of requiring candidates for judicial appointments to pledge themselves, 
as a condition on which they are to receive such appointment, to decide the most impor- 
tant and difficult questions which can come before a court of justice, in accordance with 
the political views of those who hold such appointment in their hands; a practice so abhor- 
rent to all correct notions of judicial integrity, and so utterly at war with the safety of 
our dearest rights, that no Legislature previous to the present, has had the hardihood to 
think of its adoption. 

The practice of members of the Legislature discussing and determining, in secret con- 
clave, on the most important acts of Legislation, so that neither the motives nor the advo- 
cates of such acts can be known by the people. 

The creation of offices not required by the public good, for the purpose of making 
places to be filled by hungry office-seekers, and especially by members of the Legislature, 
thereby greatly increasing the heavy burden already imposed on the people. 

The unnecessary consumption of the time of the Legislature, and the enormous increase 
of expense, occasioned by legislating upon matters of a purely local or personal character. 

The decision of important legislative questions from motives of partiality or prejudice, 
regardless of the propriety or justice of such decision. 

Improper combinations among members of the Legislature to carry measures not re- 
quired by the public good; the execution of which exhausts the public treasury, increases 
the taxes levied on the people, and ruins the credit of the State. 

The adoption of improper, and the rejection of proper measures, with the sole view of 
benefiting a political party, regardless of the injury inflicted on the public. 

Resolved, That our Penitentiary system, as carried out in practice, operates injuriously 
on the interests of a numerous and respectable class of our citizens, and should be so mod- 
ified as not to come in competition with tlie free labor of the honest mechanic, so far as 
the same can be done without making that institution a burthen upon the State Treasury. 



Whereas the General Assembly have passed a resolution to invite General Andrew 
Jackson to visit this cit)', as the guest of the State, on the next anniversary of our Na- 
tional Independence, and whereas this Convention, many of whom were supporters of 
General Jackson, for the Presidency, yield to none in their admiration of the achievements 
of the distinguished Hero of New Orleans, and to none in their zeal to honor one who has 
conferred lasting honor on the flag of his country — therefore 

Resolved, That it be recommended to our fellow-citizens in every part of the State 
which he may visit, to receive him with the utmost cordiality and respect, and treat him 
and those by whom he may be accompanied, with that liberal hospitality and kindness 
which they have ever been ready to show to distinguished guests. 

Resolved, That in order to prevent the Treasury of the State from being taxed in its 
present impoverished condition, it be recommended to our fellow-citizens, without distinc- 
tion of party, to contribute such pecuniary aid as may be necessary to carry into effect 
the foregoing resolution. 



37 

Resolved, That a committee of five, of whom the President of this Convention shall be 
one, be appointed by the Chair to communicate to General Jackson, a copy of the pre- 
amble and the first succeeding' resolution. 

Resolved, That it recommended to the Young- Men of the States of Ohio, Kentucky, 
Indiana, Illinois, Michigan, Western New York, Pennsylvania, and Virginia, to celebrate 
the anniversary of the Siege of Fort Meigs, in June 1813, on the ground occupied by that 
Fort. 

Whereas, it is the desire of a large number of the delegates of this Convention, who 
have heretofore supported Gen. Andrew Jacksmi and Martin Van Buren, for the Presi- 
dency of the United States, that an organization be made throughout the State, of all who 
deem it as incumbent on them, in order to carry out their Democratic principles, to vote 
for Gen. William Henry Hahhison for President, and Johx Ttler for Vice President; 
and believing that much good will result to the opposition in this State, by a concert of 
action among the former supporters of Jackson, who are now zealously engaged in pro- 
moting the election of our fellow citizen and neighbor; therefore, 

Resolved, That it be recommended to the former supporters of Jackson and Van Buren, 
to organize themselves into HARRISON REFORM CLUBS, in each and every county of 
the State of Ohio. 

Resolved, That such Delegates as are now in Columbus, included in this resolution, be 
requested to organize Clubs immediately on their return to the respective counties they 
represent. 

Resolved, That we regard it as the duty of the Harrisonian Democrats of Ohio, one and 
all, to contribute their efforts, through the medium of the pen, the press, and the stump, 
to the diffusion of the truth and correct principles during the ensuing campaign. 

Resolved, That the following gentlemen be appointed a State Central Committee, for 
the ensuing campaign, to wit: Alfred Kelley, Joseph Ridgway, sen., John W. Andrews, 
Robert Neil, John L. Miner, Francis Stewart, Lewis Heyl, Dr. N. M. Miller, and Lyne 
Starling, Jr. 



{fUj' We have more than once remarked that a spirit, unlike any which has 
prevailed since the Revolutionary era, pervades the entire country. The accu- 
rate observer will see the proof of this in the various modes in which the popu- 
lar feeling seeks to give itself expression. It is only when public sentiment is 
intensely excited, that the emotion of the people finds utterance in poetry and 
song. This is a pregnant sign — and of happiest augury — at this time. It 
proves that the country is awake — that the crisis is understood and felt — and 
that Harrison — the patriot, the soldier, and Statesman — the brave and good 
Harrison — is known and appreciated by his countrymen. 

Every paper that the press throws off has its song — the hall and the cottage — 
the city and the country — the mountain and the valley are resonant of Harrison 
and patriotism. Old and young — grave and gay — all orders and classes are 
singing the ^ars and the hopes of the country, and the praises of the veteran 
who is looked to for deliverance, ft was a striking feature of the occasion of 
the late great Convention, which could not have escaped notice. The difference 
in this respect betvveen the two parties is worthy of observation. The patent 
democrats sing no songs, it seenns they have 



-No music in their ears, 



And are not moved by concord of sweet sounds. 
The motions of their hearts are sad and gloomy, 
And their affections dull as night. 

In the name of Van Buren there is nothing to call forth the spirit of poesy — 
in his character and life there is nothing to inspire the child of .song. But the 



38 

very name of Harrison, falling on the ear of a Republican, calls up a thousand 
precious associations which start into motion all the generous affections and 
noble passions of the soul. 

The following comes to us from the shore of Lake Erie. We thank our friend 
for his contribution. Our readers will thank him too, 

THE OHIO WHIG CONVENTION, 1840. 

Tune — The Son of Alknomook. 

'Twas on Washington's birth day, the Whigs of the State, 
In Columbus assembled — their numbers were great; 
From the North, from the South, from the East and the West, 
By ten thousands they came at their country's behest, 

They were freemen assembled their rights to maintain. 
And to rescue their land from corruption's foul stain; 
To consult on the means their loved country to save. 
And to drive from high places base traitors and knaves. 

There was old Cuyahoga, the pride of the north, 
By her Sons which the county in scores had sent forth, 
With their Brig newly rigged, and a fine hearty crew, 
All resolved to do battle for Tippecanoe. 

There was Portage, Medina, Geauga, Lorain, 
Ashtabula, and Trumbull, and Western Champaiorn, 
And Muskingum, and Guernsey, and Greene, and Monroe, 
And Franklin, and Licking, and old Scioto. 

There was Richland, and Warren, and Union, and Stark, 
There was Mercer, and Franklin, Montgomery, and Clark, 
There was Erie, and Henry, and Paulding, and Wood, 
All poured forth their thousands of Whigs staunch and good. 

There was Morgan, and Clermont, and Highland and Brown, 
Swelled the ranks of the Whigs to put Tyranny down; 
While Belmont, and Hamilton, Preble, and Ross, 
With their thousands on thousands made Locos look cross. 

There were Farmers, Mechanics, and Hunters, and Tars, 

Protidly over their heads waved the stripes and the stars; 

While the soul stirring music poured forth by the bands, 

Cheered their hearts, while the Tories in grief wrung their Ifands, • 

Yes, those plunder stained hands, then in sorrow were wrung, 
While the Whigs the loud chorus of Liberty sung: 
'Twas the death knell of knavery, hearty and loud; 
'Twas the song of which Freemen shall ever be proud. 

There was Washington's life guard, a relic of times, 
"That tried brave men's souls'' in our own happy climes, 
And he led a white charger along through the street, 
On his back was the saddle — great Washington's seat. 



39 

And next came the portrait of Tippecanoe, 
The Hero who fought for his country while new, 
These mementos of worth met with shouts of applause, 
From the thousands devoted to Liberty's cause. 

Assembled at length, and in Liberty's name, 
For President — "Harrison" then they proclaim; 
For Governor — "Corwin," a friend of the free, 
Huzzah, shout huzzah, shout huzzah, three times three. 

The days of the spoilsmen are numbered and told; 
In March '41 shall the HERO be rolled 
In triumph to Washington, there to restore 
His country, now fallen, to glory once more. 



t 



The author of the following Ode, accompanies his communication to the 

Editor, with this among other remarks:— "The desperate efforts made by our 

opponents to rhyme us into the ridiculous, is my apology for adventuring out of 

piy natural element." The motive of our correspondent was praiseworthy, but 

(that incentive was by no means necessary to move the poetic spirit. The scene, 

twith all its incidents and interests, was suited to awaken the loftiest affections of 

the soul — the sublimest conceptions of the mind — and that is poetry. Had it 

been seen and felt— (and to be felr, it but needed to be seen)— by such a man as 

j Scott, or Southey, or Wordsworth, the Great Convention would have been 

' commemorated in epic verse; and the genius of song would have combined with 

that of history to send down the event to posterity. 

We commend the Ode of our poetic friend to the pleasure of our readers. 
Morton sings in the spirit of patriotism and shows that his heart is in his theme. 

THE TWENTY-SECOND AT COLUMBUS. 

This day we hop'd to see a patriot band 

Here at our Capitol, to organize; 
To check the spoiler's desolating hand, , 
And banish tyrants, who our wants despise. 

It is a stormy day, the wind and rain 

Detain the timid and the weak at home; 
A thousand anxious hearts now heave with pain. 

Lest some may faulter, or that few may come. 

Ohio's sons — whose hearts are high and warm — 

Shall they be check'd, at this eventful hour? 
Shall they recoil at rain, or flood, or storm. 

And leave their foes exulting in their power? 

But hark! a distant and a rising sound - 

Is heard above the storm and rattling rain; 
'Tis like a torrent, rushing fi'om its bound. 

Or like a thousand horse upon the plain. 

And more distinct, I hear a trumpet sound. 
The pealing fife, the spirit stiring drum 



40 

On every side, above, below, around 

The shouts of thousands! — Oh, they come! they corae! 

Look to the North, the South, on every side 

A thousand banner^? floating in the air! 
Far, as the eye can reach — a rushing tide! 

Thousands and thousands! — Freemen every where! 

In glittering arms the dashing soldiers lead, 
In full rigged sloops, in cabins, see they come! 

Forts, wagons, boats, each strange conceit, indeed, 
Has some device from art or genius won. 

But why does age, in this great throng appear? 

Old men whose cheeks are mark'd with lines of care, — 
Say, tell me, fathers, what has brought you here? 

The rain is dripping from your hoary hair! — 

" My son, we once were young, and fought 

Our country to defend; 
The freedom we so dearly bought 
Seems tottering to its end. 

My course on earth is nearly run; 

Age, speaks with mystic lore! 
And " Washington's last guard" has come 

To warn his sons once more. 

Thou see'st I bring a gallant steed, 

With cloth and housing rare; 
My watchfulness thou may'st not heed, 

Thou see'st no rider there. 

The rider long since left the Held, 

The field his valor won; 
This battle o'er, I'll gladly yield 

His trust to Harrison. 



Then to the contest one and all. 

Against your country's foes; 
Conquering or conquer'd, I shall fall — 

My waning life will close!" 

The old man ceased, a tear was in his eye, 
He pointed upwards — On a standard, lo! 

Is pearch'd a living eagle — borne on high, 

Freedom's proud bird! the tyrant's deadly foe! 

The host moves on,— the good, the brave, the free — 
Its force is boundless as the human soul : 

'Tis infinite, — jesistless as the sea; 
Its mighty impulse nothing can control. 



MORTON. 















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